Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, July 2
The Himachal Police today filed a chargesheet in the court of the Additional CJM, Kangra, in the constable recruitment paper leak case against 91 persons (20 middlemen, father of a candidate and 70 candidates). The accused have been booked under Sections 420, 210 B and 201 of the IPC at the Gaggal police station in Kangra district.
In the chargesheet, the police alleged that WhatsApp chats and phone call details recovered from the mobile phones of the accused revealed that three inter-state gangs of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana were active and working in close tandem and selling papers through a network of agents in northern states. Payments were made in cash or through online transactions by candidates, who bought the paper.
The police stated that the material recovered from the accused, including 185 mobile phones, five laptops, 10 hard disks and three pen drives and memory cards, had been sent to a forensic lab and the report was awaited.
The candidates, who bought the paper, would be disqualified for indulging in foul means and would not be allowed to sit in the examination to be held tomorrow. Kangra police officials had detected the constable recruitment paper leak on March 27 while questioning candidates during the scrutiny of the paper. Some police officials, who are involved in recruitment in the district, got suspicious when marks obtained by some candidates did not match with their academic performances. They asked the candidates some simple questions that they could not answer. Some candidates revealed that they had got the leaked paper.
The police registered an FIR against the candidates after which an SIT was formed to investigate the paper leak case. It was following the investigation that 90 persons were arrested and now the chargesheet was filed against them.
Sources told The Tribune that the main accused, who initially managed to get the paper from the printing press, was still at large.
Courtesy: Tribune News Service
