Speeding up the investigation into the alleged discrepancies in the recruitment of sub-inspectors in J&K Police, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday carried out searches at three dozen locations spread over five states across the country.
According to the central agency, searches were carried out at 36 locations in Jammu and Srinagar of J&K; Karnal, Mahendergarh and Rewari in Haryana, Gandhidham in Gujarat; Delhi, Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh and Bangalore in Karnataka as part of Investigation in the alleged scam.
“The residence of former chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board, Khalid Jehangir, then controller of examination of JKSSB, some gang members domiciled in Haryana, teachers and some serving/retired officials of J&K Police including a DSP and CRPF were raided in the ongoing investigation,” officials said.
The agency claimed to have recovered incriminating documents and digital evidence during searches which have been sent for forensic analysis.
According to reports, the agency also picked up two teachers during the raids and their phones were seized. It was not immediately known if they have been formally arrested.
The raids came after J&K administration transferred the case to the agency for probe. The aspirants had alleged that there were discrepancies in the recruitment process and an unusually high percentage of selected candidates were from the districts of Jammu, Rajouri and Samba.
The final list of the JKSSB’s SI recruitment exam included a number of students who had studied at one coaching centre in Jammu. According to reports, in one case, a number of selected candidates belonged to one family. Following these disclosures, the selection process was cancelled and the case was handed over to the CBI.
The agency formally registered the case on August 3 which has booked 33 suspects so far. Among the accused are Medical Officer, BSF Frontier Hqrs, Paloura, then Member, JKSSB; then Under Secretary, then Section Officer (both of JKSSB); Ex-official of CRPF; ASI of J&K Police; Owner of a coaching centre, Akhnoor; private company based at Bengaluru; private persons and unknown others.
The agency has also claimed that the JKSSB’s then chief violated the norms by contracting the setting of papers to a private company based in Bangalore.
The exam was conducted by J&K Services Selection Board on March 27 this year and the results were declared on June 4 which promoted allegations of malpractices in the examination.
Earlier, the J&K administration constituted an inquiry committee to look into the allegations of malpractices after which the central agency took charge of investigations. The agency had carried out searches on August 5 at 30 locations including at Jammu, Srinagar and Bengaluru among other places.
This followed after the administration cancelled another exam conducted by the SSB following widespread allegations of malpractices. The government has said that these disclosures have become possible due to its efforts towards setting up a transparent system.