Pune: Rohit Pawar Targets MPSC Over Drug Inspector Paper Leak, Claims Papers Sold For ₹40 Lakh

Pune: NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday attacked the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) over the drug inspector recruitment paper leak and demanded the resignation of the commission's chairman and secretary. He also warned the state government of an agitation over pending payments to government contractors.

Pawar, who met MPSC aspirants in Pune on Wednesday, said he had earlier approached the commission and submitted evidence regarding the alleged leak. His remarks came on the day the MPSC cancelled the entire Drug Inspector Group-B recruitment process after a preliminary inquiry found malpractice in the March 22 examination and announced that a fresh examination would be held.

MPSC denied it initially

“We had met the commission and requested them to look into the fact that the paper had been leaked. We had given evidence that the questions had already been leaked. Initially, the MPSC was denying it, but an investigation was conducted, and now it has accepted that the paper was leaked,” Pawar said.

He alleged that the leak was not limited to a single candidate and claimed that an agent network had sold the question paper for around ₹40 lakh. “Forty lakh rupees were taken for each paper,” Rohit Pawar claimed, demanding that the police investigation report and FIR be made public. Pawar also demanded a judicial inquiry into the episode.

Several MPSC officials involved

He also alleged that several MPSC officials were involved and said the authorities must identify the people behind the leak. He referred to previous examination paper leak cases and claimed that a similar incident in 1997 had led to the then commission chairman being jailed.

Questioning the leadership of the commission, Pawar said, “The chairman and secretary should take moral responsibility and resign.” He alleged that the MPSC chairman had links with a senior political leader and questioned his past record as an RTO commissioner.

Pawar gave an ultimatum that if the chairman did not resign by the end of August, he and his supporters would visit the MPSC office at noon on September 1 and seek answers from the chairman and secretary.

Pawar also opposed online examinations, saying students should not be made to choose between online and offline systems simply because of concerns over paper leaks. “We do not want online examinations. We want transparent and clean offline examinations through the MPSC,” he said.

He urged students across different examinations to unite whenever a paper leak occurs and support one another irrespective of caste or religion.

Don't die by suicide

Turning to the death of a government contractor amid a crisis over unpaid bills, Pawar appealed to contractors not to take the extreme step of suicide. “Please do not die by suicide. We will come out on the streets and fight,” he said.

Pawar claimed that around ₹90,000 crore owed to contractors in Maharashtra remained unpaid, alleging that some had sold jewellery or land to complete government works. He further alleged that Marathi contractors were being denied timely payments while contractors from other states were paid on time.

The issue has intensified after contractor Gajanan Devkate died by suicide amid financial difficulties linked to pending government bills. Contractors' associations have separately claimed that around ₹86,000 crore in dues remain outstanding.

Pawar demanded a special Assembly session to discuss the contractors' financial crisis and called on the government to immediately release their pending payments.

“If the government does not pay the contractors, we will not allow the Nagpur Assembly session to function,” Pawar warned, signalling a wider political confrontation over both the examination system and contractors' dues.