CBI conducts searches at 30 locations over irregularities in J-K Police sub-inspector recruitment

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also named Karnail Singh, a medical officer posted in Jammu, Avinash Gupta, the owner of a coaching centre in Akhnoor, and a Bengaluru-based company in the FIR, they said.

New Delhi: The CBI conducted searches at 30 locations on Friday in connection with alleged irregularities in the selection of police sub-inspectors by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB), officials said. The searches were conducted at 28 locations in Jammu and one each in Srinagar and Bengaluru after the registration of an FIR against JKSSB member Narayan Dutt and 32 other accused, including middlemen and candidates, they said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also named Karnail Singh, a medical officer posted in Jammu, Avinash Gupta, the owner of a coaching centre in Akhnoor, and a Bengaluru-based company in the FIR, they said. Last month, the Jammu and Kashmir administration cancelled the police sub-inspector recruitment following allegations of irregularities and recommended a CBI probe into the selection process.

It was alleged that there were irregularities in the written examination conducted on March 27. "The results were declared on 04.06.2022. There were allegations regarding malpractices in the examination. The Jammu and Kashmir government had constituted an inquiry committee to look into the same.

It was alleged that the accused entered into conspiracy amongst officials of JKSSB, Bengaluru-based private company, beneficiary candidates and others, and caused gross irregularities in conduct of written examination for the posts of sub-inspectors," the CBI said in a statement. The initial inquiry showed that there were "abnormally high percentage" of selected candidates from Jammu, Rajouri and Samba districts.

"Violation of rules by JKSSB was allegedly found in assigning the task of setting question paper to Bengaluru-based private company," it said. The CBI has also booked Ashok Kumar, ASI, J&K Police; Ashwani Kumar, former CRPF official; Akshay Kumar, manager of the Akhnoor coaching centre 'EDUMAX Classes'; Roshan Bral, RET teacher; Bishan Dass, then under secretary at JKSSB; Anju Raina, then section officer at JKSSB; and the Bengaluru-based MeritTrac Services Private Limited. (PTI)