With the police constable recruitment exam question paper leak turning out to be a major embarrassment for the Himachal government in the election year, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday said that those found guilty will not be spared.
Two days ago, Jai Ram had announced that his government will hand over the investigations of the paper leak case to the CBI after it concluded that the probe spanned several states. The HP Police’s special investigation team has so far arrested 73 people, including 38 candidates.
“It was a conscious decision to immediately cancel the examination. There were so many aspirants who had toiled hard for the exam. Nobody can be allowed to jeopardise the future of youth,” Jai Ram said while refuting the allegations that the decision was made under pressure.
“A re-examination will be conducted by the police department. There were several suggestions to engage different agencies for conducting examination, but we have decided that the police will conduct the retest,” he added.
As many as 75,803 candidates had appeared for the exam at 81 centres set up across 11 districts. Among those arrested till now are touts, parents of candidates, examinees who bought papers, and the middlemen who helped the kingpin to spread his network ahead of the examination conducted on March 27.
Jai Ram reiterated that till the CBI takes over the investigation, the SIT will continue the probe. He said his government is working on evolving a foolproof examination system in the state so such incidents do not occur in future.
Meanwhile, principal secretary (home) Bharat Khera has written a letter to CBI director and secretary personnel to the government of India to conduct an inquiry in the Himachal Pradesh Police constable paper leak case.
The home secretary in his letter stated that the network of people involved in the leak was spread across various states and a CBI probe was needed to bring the culprits to justice.
It is learnt that the investigation in the paper leak case would likely be conducted by the CBI’s anti-corruption branches located in New Delhi or Chandigarh as there already is a shortage of staff in the Shimla branch.
The officials of CBI’s Shimla branch are also engaged in many other cases, including the scholarship scam. Moreover, Delhi or Chandigarh branches of CBI have expertise in carrying out investigations in such cases.
It is worth mentioning that the investigation in the Kotkhai rape and murder case was also conducted by the Delhi office of the CBI. The CBI is likely to take over the case by next week.
