CBI names 24 in chargesheet filed in Kashmir police recruitment scam

As per the CBI, the investigation was spread across several states involving analysis of voluminous technical data and examination of a large number of witnesses for which 77 locations were raided and scores questioned.

Srinagar: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet against 24 accused including a former commandant of BSF and others in the Jammu and Kashmir Police Sub Inspector recruitment paper leak scam. According to CBI, a Jammu and Kashmir police constable, an ASI, a teacher, some constables and officials of CRPF, and other accused have been named in the chargesheet filed in the case.

The CBI registered a case in August this year on the request of the J&K Government to investigate the allegations of irregularities in the written examination conducted by the J&K Services Selection Board (JKSSB) in March this year for the recruitment of 1200 Sub-Inspectors of J&K Police. The results of this examination were declared in June 2022.

As per the CBI, the investigation was spread across several states involving analysis of voluminous technical data and examination of a large number of witnesses for which 77 locations were raided and scores questioned. As mentioned in the charge sheet, the mastermind of this scam is Yatin Yadav from Haryana's Rewari, who had gained access to papers from an employee of a printing press in New Delhi.

Yadav then reached out to several of his contacts in the Jammu region to get candidates and sold the papers to them for Rs 15-20 lakhs. The CBI said that out of these people that Yadav contacted, 20 have been arrested, while further investigation into the fraud is going on. A supplementary chargesheet will be filed if any official of SSB is found involved in the paper leak scam, the officials further informed.

Nearly 7,200 applicants had qualified for the physical test conducted by the Services Selection Board (SSB). The SSB has advertised 1,200 posts of SIs last year for recruitment after a three-year delay due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Hundreds of aspirants in Jammu and Kashmir questioned the transparency of the tests, while there also were allegations regarding malpractices in the examination.