Constable paper leak: CBI raids 50 locations in 7 states

Shimla, January 31

The CBI today conducted searches at around 50 locations in seven states/UTs as part of its ongoing investigation into two cases related to the leak of constable recruitment papers in Himachal Pradesh.

Exam held in March last year

• Question papers of the written examination for the posts of constable in the Himachal Pradesh Police, held on March 27, 2022, were leaked
• The leak was detected on May 5, 2022, and the examination was cancelled the next day
• A special investigation team (SIT) was formed by the Himachal Pradesh Police on May 7 to investigate the case
• The CBI registered two cases on Nov 30, 2022, on the request of the HP Govt and after a notification by the Centre.

Incriminating documents were reportedly seized during the searches in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

The CBI registered two cases on November 30, 2022, on the request of the Himachal Government and further notification by the Government of India. It took over the probe into the cases registered vide FIR number 41 at the Gaggal police station and the FIR number 5 at the CID (Bharari) police station by the state police on the allegations of paper leak.

Question papers of the written examination for the posts of constable in the Himachal Pradesh Police, held on March 27, 2022, were leaked ahead of the date. It emerged in the investigation that several middlemen spread across several states were allegedly involved in the case.

Middlemen based in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab were allegedly operating in an organised manner to leak the papers, said the CBI in an official statement. The papers were provided to aspirants in return for huge money, it added.

The leak was detected on May 5, 2022, and the examination was cancelled the next day, followed by the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) by the Himachal Pradesh Police on May 7.

Searches on Tuesday were conducted in Kangra, Una, Mandi, Hamirpur, Kullu, Shimla, Sirmaur districts in Himachal Pradesh; Nalanda, Samastipur, Munger, Lakhisarai, Patna and Navada in Bihar; Haridwar and Dehradun in Uttarakhand; Pathankot in Punjab; Jaunpur, Varanasi, Gazipur and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh; Rewari in Haryana; and in Delhi, a spokesperson of the CBI said in a statement.

As many as 1,87,476 applications were received for 1,334 posts of constable. In all, 75,803 candidates qualified the physical test, out of which 26,346 had cleared the written examination held at 81 centres across 11 districts on March 27.

About 253 persons, including the owner of the printing press, staff, owners of coaching centres, kingpin, agents, candidates and their family members were arrested during the course of investigation by the SIT. Chargesheets were filed in the court against over 150 accused.

According to the state police investigation, multiple gangs were involved in the leak and habitual offenders, engineers and people working in the Railways and the Income Tax Department were among the kingpins and agents who leaked the papers. (with PTI inputs)