India News | Paper Leak Case: Former Secy of HP Staff Selection Commission Sent to Judicial Custody Till Apr 21

Hamirpur, Apr 10 (PTI) A court here on Monday sent a former secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission to 12 days' judicial custody in connection with the Junior Office Assistant (Information Technology) exam paper leak case, officials said.

The state vigilance department produced Jatinder Kumar Kanwar, a Himachal Administrative Services officer, in the court on Monday and sought extension of his police remand. The court, however, sent him to judicial custody till April 21.

Also Read | Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: AAP Releases 3rd List of Candidates for Upcoming Polls; Check Full List of Names and Their Constituencies.

Kanwar was arrested on April 4 and sent to police remand till April 10.

DIG, Vigilance Bureau, G Shiva Kumar had said on April 1 that permission will be sought from the government under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 to register an FIR against highly placed officials under scanner in the case.

Also Read | LIC ADO Exam Results 2023: Prelims Examination Result for Apprentice Development Officer’s Posts Declared at licindia.in; Know Steps To Check Scores.

The former secretary of the commission had been called several times for questioning and further inquiry was going on against him, he had stated.

So far, leaks have been detected in about 30 examinations conducted by the HPSSC in the past. The vigilance department is probing irregularities in 22 examinations and so far, five FIRs have been registered. A total of 15 people have been arrested in connection with the paper leak cases.

The JOA (IT) paper leak scam was unearthed on December 23 last year when the vigilance sleuths arrested HPSSC senior assistant Uma Azad red-handed with a solved question paper and cash amounting to Rs 2.5 lakh, besides a laptop and other documents.

The state government had suspended the functioning of the HPSSC over the recruitment exam paper leaks and postponed all the examinations to be held.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)