Balasore: Further intensifying crackdown in the OSSC JE (Civil) Main written examination question paper leak case, the Balasore Police have today arrested eight more middlemen from Odisha.
The arrested persons are identified as Bijay Mallick (25), Santunu Mishra(29), Sandeep Kumar Mohunty (27), Pradeep Sathpathy, Niranjan Behera (55), Ajay Kumar Biswal (43), Rajib Lochan Sahu (33) and Sapan Kumar Rout (33).
Addressing a press meeting here today, Balasore SP Sagarika Nath said that the eight arrested persons were in contacting the candidates to supply question papers for JE (Civil) Main written examination before the scheduled date and time of the examination.
The police official further informed that previously, request letters were sent to Accountant General’s office, Patna, District Education Officer, Kandhamal and District Education Officer, Jajpur, for necessary departmental action against Vishal Kumar, Gobinda Tripathy and Sushant Kumar Sahu respectively.
In continuation, letters for necessary departmental action against Ajay Kumar Biswal & Bijay Mallick are being sent to District Education Officer, Balasore.
For further investigation, the police remand for Vishal Kumar, Virendra Singh, Bijendra Kumar, Patta Sunil, Susant Kumar Sahoo and Gobinda Tripathy is being prayed for and a search warrant of a location outside Odisha is also being prayed for. Moreover, a request for cancellation of Bail in previously involved cases is also being done, the SP said.
The investigation until now suggests that the candidates were contacted by the gang via two modes primarily. One was through local contacts via the existing “manpower consultancy services” and the other was via various “online study groups” existing on social media platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp.
The origins of some of these messages have been identified and the accused have been apprehended today. Some more individuals, from both inside and outside Odisha, involved with the racket have also been identified and further arrests will be made in due course of investigation.
As of today a total of 25 accused involved in the case have been apprehended by Balasore Police while further investigation is underway, SP Nath concluded.
