The special task force (STF) of Uttarakhand Police arrested the 47th accused in connection with irregularities in the Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UKSSSC) graduate level exam, as informed by a police official.
The accused, identified as Kashan Khan, is a resident of Firozabad district. He was arrested from Aligarh.
According to police officials, the STF team was conducting raids at possible locations in Aligarh for a week to nab the accused.
The UKSSSC conducted the graduate-level exam in December 2021 and declared the result for 916 successful candidates. However, the commission cancelled the exam and result in December 2022 owing to large-scale irregularities found in the investigation conducted by STF.
A case in this regard was registered at the Raipur police station in Dehradun under section 420 (fraud) of the Indian Penal Code on July 22, 2022.
Senior Superintendent of Police (STF) Ayush Agarwal said, “Following the instructions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in the UKSSSC paper leak case, a reward of ₹50,000 was announced last year for the arrest of the accused Kashan Khan. Our teams had been trying to arrest Khan, and raids were being conducted at possible hideouts.”
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“With no success initially, I had directed our teams to collect manual information for his arrest and make a concrete plan”, SSP Agarwal said.
He added, “A week ago, we received inputs that the accused was hiding in Aligarh, and immediately dispatched a team to Aligarh for his arrest. After conducting raids for a week, we finally arrested him from the Mohalla Jamalpur area in Aligarh. He was subsequently brought to Dehradun.”
The police official informed that it is the 47th arrest made in connection with the rigging in the UKSSSC graduate level exam. Overall, 62 people have been arrested so far for irregularities in four recruitment exams conducted by UKSSSC.
SSP Agarwal said that during interrogation, Khan informed that he used to work in the Lucknow-based company RMS from 2018 as a printing machine operator. His sister was to be married in February 2022.
“He stole the copy of the question paper of the graduate level exam while packing it at the request of his colleagues Rupendra Jaiswal and Sadiq Musha and handed it over to them. Khan was given between ₹4 – 5 lakh for the task,” he said.
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It was after the matter came to light that he left his house to evade the arrest. He continued to move from places and stayed in Agra, Delhi, Ajmer, Agra, and other locations, the police official informed.
The SSP revealed that four separate cases have been registered for irregularities in exams. These include the graduate level recruitment examination 2021, the secretariat guard recruitment Examination, the forester recruitment examination, and the gram panchayat development officer recruitment examination 2016.
“In all four cases, the STF has submitted chargesheets in the court. We have been making continuous efforts to arrest the culprits who are still absconding. Of the 49 accused involved in the UKSSSC graduate-level exam paper leak case, 47 have already been arrested. Among the two absconding, one has secured a stay order against his arrest from the Uttarakhand high court, whereas efforts are on to nab the other remaining accused,” said SSP Agarwal.
