Himachal police fail to locate phones of middlemen in constable paper leak case

Ambika Sharma

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Solan, May 15

Cellphones of several middlemen in the constable recruitment paper leak case could not be recovered by the police so far even as a special investigation team (SIT) tries to crack the case.

Besides hinting at deliberate disappearance of the evidence, the development also indicates that those involved in the scam are aware of the direction in which the SIT probe is progressing.

Masterminds at work

• Deliberate disappearance of evidence (cellphones) indicates accused abiding by instructions from masterminds
• Also indicates those involved are aware of direction in which the SIT probe is progressing

While it will be difficult to establish a link between the middlemen and the masterminds of the scam, delay in probe cannot be ruled out. Investigators will have to secure details of cellphone data, including call logs, videos, etc., from the servers of respective service providers, which is bound to take more time.

Officials probing the scam said though such miscreants would be booked under Section 201 of the IPC for causing disappearance of evidence, it was surprising to note that the cellphones of several middlemen went missing on the same day from various districts.

It appears they were abiding by the instructions of the scam masterminds. Even the modus operandi of the scam hinted towards professional handling of the entire episode. The leaked question papers were never shared electronically to evade digital evidence. The papers were merely shown to the candidates and they were asked to prepare the answers.

Officials probing the case were directed to confront suspects with a list of about 30 questions. This would help them ascertain if they were shown a copy of the original question paper or merely had access to questions that figured in the written exam. This would help in deciphering from where the question paper got leaked.