Hamirpur/Shimla, Apr 29 (PTI) Two more persons — a brother and a sister — were arrested in connection with the Junior Office Assistant (Information Technology) JOA (IT) paper leak case by the Special Investigation Team of the State Vigilance Bureau on Saturday, officials said.
The accused were living in the neighbourhood of kingpin Uma Azad, who was working as a senior assistant in the erstwhile Himachal Pradesh Staff Service Commission (HPSSC) when the paper leak case surfaced. She was arrested on December 23 last year and the solved question paper and cash of Rs 2.5 lakh were seized from her possession.
The accused were identified as Neetu and her brother Gopal and, a Vigilance Bureau spokesman said, adding both had cleared the JOA IT exam.
Investigations revealed that Azad had sold question papers to them, he said.
The siblings were produced before a court which sent them to judicial custody till May 2, the spokesman said, adding the judicial custody of Azad was also extended till May 2.
Meanwhile, a case of cheating under sections 420 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code was registered against Sohan Singh, who owns a Dhaba at Pakka Bharoh in Hamirpur, in connection with the leakage of the question paper of HP Secretariat Clerk Post Code 962 examination, held in the month of April 2022.
An advertisement for 82 seats of the said exam was published on May 24, 2022. The written exam was held on September 18, 2022 and the results were declared on October 22, 2022.
A total of 57,710 candidates had appeared in the written exam, out of which 897 cleared the test. As many as 265 candidates had been shortlisted after typing skill test and a list of 82 candidates had been prepared after verification of documents. The final result of this exam is yet to be declared.
Following the paper leak, the Vigilance Department is investigating 20 examinations held in the past three years.
The state government had suspended the functioning of the HPSSC over the recruitment exam paper leak and postponed all the examinations to be held in near future before dissolving the commission.
Forensic experts examining the electronic devices recovered by the Vigilance Department in the case had found that question papers, financial transactions, voice audios recordings and chats during the scrutiny of electronic data from the devices of the accused which indicated that papers were leaked in the past as well, according to officials. PTI COR BPL AQS AQS
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