By Express News Service
JAIPUR: A question paper leak in another recruitment exam has rocked Rajasthan.
In a huge embarrassment to the Gehlot government, the paper in the second shift of the Rajasthan Police Constable Recruitment Examination held on May 14 was leaked from a centre in Jaipur and the exam has now been cancelled.
An FIR has been registered by the SOG in this paper leak case. So far eight people have been arrested, which includes the Centre superintendent, assistant superintendent, representative of the company conducting the examination, and strong room in-charge ASI. They are all being interrogated in detail to crack the conspiracy behind the paper leak.
After the paper leak came to light, the DGP of Rajasthan Police ML Lather has given instructions to hold the exam again. It is being said that the paper leak conspiracy was hatched in Jaipur’s Diwakar Public School. At this school in the Jhotwara area, the question paper was opened much ahead of time, leaked out and soon went viral on social media.
The SOG team has found many irregularities in the strong room where the paper was kept. Just before the exam, an employee named Mohanlal leaked the paper from the strong room and the answer key was leaked through social media.
ADG (ATS and SOG) Ashok Rathod said, “Investigation has revealed that on May 14, the second shift paper of the police constable recruitment examination was leaked. In our probe, it has been found that the paper leaked from the strong room of the exam centre. A case has been registered against seven people including the Superintendent of Diwakar Public School.”
When the paper of the constable recruitment examination went viral on WhatsApp from night to morning, the SOG became active. When SOG investigated the school, many important clues were found.
A DVR was installed in the CCTV cameras there but about half an hour of recording was missing. The location of the box in the strong room was changed and a school employee named Mohan is missing. Mohan’s shoes are visible in the CCTV footage and he went to the strongroom at 2.15 pm. His phone has been switched off since.
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SOG had received information that the Rajasthan Police Recruitment paper was leaked on WhatsApp as 33 pages of the paper went viral on WhatsApp. Marks were found on 26 pages and shells were found on seven pages. The answer key to a series of papers that went viral was also prepared. SOG got some clues while taking pictures of the paper.
Based on the photos, SOG investigated four centres where papers of that series had been sent. The SOG team reached those examination centres located at Sikar, Sriganganagar and Mansarovar and Jhotwara in Jaipur. During the investigation, some employees on duty at Diwakar Public School Center were found missing. A case was registered considering their suspicious conduct as their mobiles were also found switched off.
The SOG probe is likely to throw up some big revelations regarding this recruitment exam. DGP MS Lather has said that the new exam date for this paper will be announced in four weeks.
About 1.75 lakhs students had appeared in the second examination. Earlier, the exam for JEN, Librarian and REET Level 2 had to be cancelled due to paper leaks, irregularities and copying. The cancellation of the police constable exam will affect over 1.5 lakh students and their families.
Among the biggest paper leak scams was the REET exam conducted to fill the posts of about thirty thousand teachers in government schools of the state in which 40 people have so far been arrested. After the REET paper leak, the Rajasthan Police Constable Recruitment Exam paper has also been leaked, which is bound to cripple the morale of the candidates and the hard work of lakhs of candidates has been ruined. Also, shortcomings in the arrangements for recruitment exams have been exposed once again.