Himachal's former secretary of staff service commission arrested in paper leak case

Shimla: The state vigilance department has arrested a former secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Staff Service Commission (HPSSC) in connection with the Junior Office Assistant (Information Technology) exam paper leak case, officials said.

Jatinder Kumar was called in for questioning at the vigilance police station in Hamirpur in connection with the case on Tuesday and later, arrested. He will be produced in court on Wednesday, they said.

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.

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 the solved question paper and cash amounting to ₹ 2.5 lakh, besides a laptop and other documents.

The state government had suspended the functioning of the HPSSC over the recruitment exam paper leak and postponed all the examinations.