5 nabbed in ITBP constable recruitment paper leak case

The Delhi Police on Thursday claimed to have unearthed a nexus behind the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) recruitment paper leak case and arrested five persons, including three directors of the agency that was responsible for conducting the exam, the police said.

Those arrested have been identified as Amitav Roy, Subhendu Kumar Paul, Jaydeep Goswami, all directors of the Indian Institute of Psychometry (IIP), a West Bengal-based private entity responsible for conducting the exam, Rohit Roy, a consultant, and Dharmender, a printer, both from Delhi, they said.

The written examination for the post of Constable (Tradesmen) was conducted on January 10, 2021. As many as 46,174 candidates appeared for the exam across 81 centres in 13 cities.

The action was followed by a complaint from Kushal Kumar, Commandant, Recruitment, ITBP, New Delhi. The complainant alleged that the Indian Institute of Psychometry was outsourced to conduct written test activities for various ITBP posts through a tendering process. As per the terms, the agency was fully responsible for setting, printing of question papers, designing, printing of perforated OMR answer sheets, conduct of written examination, scanning of OMR sheets, secure packing and transportation of question papers, answer sheets and maintaining a high level of confidentiality throughout the process.

However, prior to the start of the exam, some senior officials of the ITBP received a question paper that was circulated on WhatsApp. While comparing it with the actual question paper, it was confirmed that they were identical. An internal inquiry by the force found that the question paper had been leaked and was widely circulated among candidates before the examination began.

Based on the complaint, a case was registered at Lodhi Colony police station and investigation was initiated.

During the investigation, replies were sought from both the ITBP and the agency, IIP. Relevant documents, including contracts and MoUs, were seized. The employees of the company were examined and one of them stated that director Amitav Roy and his associates were responsible for the breach and that the examination process had been outsourced to another company, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime) Vikram Singh.

Despite being issued notices, the directors failed to join the investigation. Upon finding sufficient grounds for arrest due to non-cooperation, all three directors — Amitav Roy, Subhendu Kumar Paul, and Jaydeep Goswami — were arrested to uncover further links.

During interrogation in custody, the trio disclosed the role of a consultant and a printer in the entire racket, who were arrested subsequently, the DCP said.

Singh further mentioned that an investigation to uncover their forward and backward linkages is going on.