Balasore: The question papers of the JE (Mains) Civils examination conducted by OSSC on 16th July 2023 were leaked by an inter-state racket, informed Balasore SP Sagarika Nath at a press meeting here on Sunday.
In the meanwhile, the Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) today cancelled the Main Written Examination for JE (Civil) conducted on July 16, based on the report of Balasore SP. The Commission has announced that the fresh written exam will be held on September 3, 2023.
SP Nath said that the OSSC had provided a general alert message pertaining to some kind of unfair practices with the examination process. After that local sources of Balasore district were alerted. And during the initial interrogation of the detained accused, they gave prevaricating statements ranging from practice question sets being given to fake question paper being supplied to be providing training for the CGL (Tier 1) exam conducted by SSC (Central), thus indicating a job fraud.
As the statements of different accused and the candidates were not corroborating, the investigation was expanded to the states of West Bengal, Bihar, MP and Delhi after which it was confirmed that the question paper pertaining to the JE (Mains) Civils examination conducted by OSSC on 16th July 2023 has been leaked by the said group of accused and their other accomplices, Nath stated.
On 16.7.23, Sahdevkhunta police registered a case of cheating and forgery in which at least 100 job seekers were in the process of being duped by a racket.
In the said case, nine accused persons including one woman were arrested. The accused belonged to Odisha, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh. A naka was set up at Baruni Bridge on NH-16 which ultimately led to a detailed search operation at a hotel/resort in Talsari and subsequently in neighbouring Digha of West Bengal.
The accused persons have been identified as Vijendra Kumar (39), Raj Kumar (36), Deepak Kumar (25), & Ajay Kumar (31), all four hailing from Bihar, Md K. Siddique (35) of Andhra Pradesh, Biswaranjan Mohapatra (39) Md Kamiruddin (38), Mustakim Khan (23) and Shaina Parween (29) all four of Odisha.
Further investigation suggested that the accused apprehended from Odisha, were acting as middlemen and that the masterminds were pulling the strings from outside the state.
“Keeping this in view, strategically, the 88 detained candidates were examined and were asked to report for re-examination on being called for and their names and contact details were meticulously noted down. The core focus of the investigation shifted to identifying the main culprits who played a key role in the leaking of the question paper and finding the extent of the leak,” the Balasore SP said.
On further interrogation of the accused Vijendra Kumar and Raj Kumar after bringing them on remand on 21.7.23, it was found that these individuals have previously been involved in similar cases in MP, Bihar and Delhi.
On interrogation, the accused confessed that a sum of Rs 8-10 Lakhs is being demanded from the candidates for providing them with the leaked question papers.
The Modus Operandi of the gang was to take away the original certificates of the candidates and provide them with the question paper. After the exams were over, if the questions matched, the candidates were asked to pay half the amount instantly and the other half after the declaration of results. In this instance, the initial investigation reveal that there was no transaction between the accused and the candidates, as at the time of the raid the examination was yet to be conducted, SP Nath further informed in a press note.
