Chandigarh: Even as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal lashes out at the Gujarat government for paper leaks, his own party in Punjab is facing the heat from the opposition over what is being called as the first major recruitment “scam” reported under its watch.
On Tuesday, the Punjab Police claimed to have busted an interstate gang that was involved in hi-tech cheating in the naib tehsildar recruitment exam which the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) conducted in May.
Sukhpal Singh Khaira of the Congress and Bikram Singh Majithia of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had claimed way back in October about major irregularities in the competitive exam.
Candidates allegedly paid over Rs 20 lakh each to the gang which planned and executed the cheating operation using Bluetooth and GSM devices, Inspector General (IG), Patiala range, Mukhwinder Singh Chhina told a press briefing on Tuesday.
Given that the alleged paper leaks in Gujarat have been used by Kejriwal as one of the focal points of his party’s election campaign in the BJP-ruled state, the arrest of five suspected gang members has snowballed into a major political embarrassment for the AAP that swears by transparency in selection to government jobs.
“It is easier to point fingers at others. Kejriwal has been shouting from rooftops about the paper leak cases in Gujarat. He should look at what is happening in Punjab,” Congress’ Sukhpal Singh Khaira said in a video statement Monday.
On Thursday, Khaira tweeted urging Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to order a judicial inquiry into the alleged irregularities. In another tweet, the Congress leader also demanded a full-fledged inquiry into the conduct of other examinations by the PPSC in the past few months
Other opposition parties are also taking on the AAP over the alleged recruitment scam demanding the arrest of not just those who organised the hi-tech cheating but also the candidates who secured top positions using the services of this gang.
The maximum candidates who allegedly cheated their way through the top in the entrance examination are from Moonak and Patran blocks of Sangrur district which is the home constituency of CM Bhagwant Mann.
In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Majithia said that the ‘scam’ needs to be probed thoroughly as evidence indicates a larger conspiracy of the government and the PPSC as the selected are from only two exam centres of Moonak and Patran.
“We first highlighted the possibility of a scam in the recruitment process when it came to our notice that the candidates who had topped the naib tehsildar written examinations had actually failed in a written examination to recruit patwaris that was conducted some months earlier. How could the same candidates who had failed in the patwari written examination top another similar recruitment examination held within a gap of a few months?” Khaira said in a video.
The AAP is yet to come out with a statement after the police gave details of the initial arrests made in the case.
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How ‘scam’ unfolded
While the PPSC had advertised for recruitment of 78 naib tehsildars in the department of revenue in December 2020, the exam was finally conducted in May this year. As many as 85,000 candidates registered for the exam of which over 40,000 appeared in the test. A merit list of 1,700 candidates was published in October.
A month after the opposition leaders made hue and cry about the irregularities, the vigilance bureau began its probe in November.
Giving details of the cheating operation carried out by the interstate gang, the Patiala IG said that the gang came in touch with the candidates preparing for the examination.
“A set of dummy candidates were made to appear in the examination whose job it was to only click pictures of the question paper and send it to a control room. The dummy candidates used micro cameras with Wi-Fi connectivity to share pictures,” said Chhina.
The control room was in Haryana where a group of experts and teachers were waiting for question papers, the senior police officer said. “The moment the question paper pictures arrived, they (the group) solved the paper and created an answer key sheet. This was done for all the question paper series.”
“The candidates who paid Rs 20-22 lakh were given a new mobile phone and a GSM device which was used to receive the answer key. They used signals like coughing or tapping on the table to send a message across to the gang members or facilitators who would also be near the examination hall to get the correct answer key according to their question paper series,” the officer said.
Three gang members from Patiala and two from Haryana were arrested in connection with the case in which an FIR was lodged under Sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery), 471 (forgery) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act.
Several gadgets including GSM devices, mobile phones, laptop and SIMs used for the entire operation were also seized, the police said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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