Monday 29 August 2022, | PNS | Dehradun
The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) has arrested three more accused over the weekend in the Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UKSSSC) exam paper leak case. The authorities arrested the owner of RIMS company, Lucknow on Saturday where UKSSSC’s examination papers were printed for allegedly leaking the paper and carrying out a deal through other accused.
Besides this, the authorities have also arrested the accused Pradeep Pal of the Secretariat Guard Recruitment Examination case for allegedly stealing paper through a pen drive from the commission’s office.
The senior superintendent of police (SSP), STF, Ajai Singh informed that Pal was associated with UKSSSC as a computer operator through a Lucknow-based outsourcing agency. He said that the accused stole the soft copy of the question paper during the printing process and handed it over to the other accused in a pen drive who further sold it to candidates at a cost between Rs six lakh and Rs 10 lakh.
According to him, the authorities arrested Pal after gathering concrete technical evidence during the investigation into the matter. He said that they have CCTV camera footage that shows the printing of question papers in the UKSSSC office which was crucial evidence in arresting the accused.
On Sunday, the STF also arrested Shashikant Hal, a resident of Haldwani who currently resides at Chandauli in Uttar Pradesh, after an intense interrogation besides having strong evidence against him. The SSP said that the accused runs four online examination centres in Haldwani, Almora, Champawat and Pithoragarh and has conducted more than 40 online exams in these centres as per the information available so far. He said that a case is also registered against the accused in Haldwani for carrying out an alleged scam in the CTET exam in the year 2013 in Uttarakhand. The accused is also allegedly involved with the cheating mafia of UP, added the SSP.
Besides this, STF has also marked about 60 aspirants who were allegedly taken in Dhingta resort and Alpine resort in Nainital to prepare them to cheat in the UKSSSC exams, said Singh. He also added that many aspirants failed to clear the exams but the STF is still gathering and verifying all the details from resorts and other sources.
The STF has arrested 27 accused so far for their alleged involvement in the case. The SSP said that the STF team is also carrying out the investigation in several other locations to get all the evidence to nab other accused too.
