The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has finally registered two FIRs in the constables and drivers recruitment paper leak case of Himachal Pradesh (HP) on 30 November and has taken over the investigations.

The state government had accorded its consent on May 18, 2022 for the CBI investigation into the two FIRs registered in the context of the paper leak. One was registered on May 5, 2022, at Gaggal police station in Kangra, and the other on May 7, 2022, at CID police station, Bharari, Shimla.

The Central government had given its consent for the CBI probe on November 1.

DSP Dinesh Kumar of CBI Chandigarh will investigate Kangra FIR while DSP Ravinder Kush, also of CBI, Chandigarh, has been handed over the investigation of the Shimla FIR.

The exam was conducted on March 27, 2022, for which as many as 75,000 candidates had appeared in the written exam of the Police Department for the recruitment of 932 male and 311 female candidates to 1,334 posts and 94 male constables to the posts of driver, at 81 examination centers in 11 districts of the state.

According to the Kangra FIR, state police personnel were asked to conduct an investigation regarding candidates who scored more than 65 marks out of 70. It came out that Manish Kumar of Nurpur (Kangra), Mani Chaudhary, a resident of Fatehpur (Kangra), Gaurav, a resident of Kangra, along with several others, got the question paper and answers at Gaggal, Chandigarh, Panchkula, and other places a day or two before the exam. They allegedly paid a huge amount in return.

Regarding Gaurav, it was specifically mentioned in the FIR that he got the answers to the questions at Thakur Kanshi Ram Web Solution Centre in Gaggal (Kangra).

In the Shimla FIR, it was mentioned that the interrogation of Manish Kumar, a resident of Nurpur (Kangra), revealed that his maternal uncle told his father Ashok Kumar that the owner of Commando Defence Academy, Rehan, Sunil Kumar, could procure a question paper for Rs 8 lakh. His father agreed to the proposal.

On March 26, 2022, Manish Kumar went to Rehan along with his father and maternal uncle. At Rehan, he was taken in a sky-blue colored Innova to Chandigarh. Apart from him, there were seven more persons in the Innova who were from Baijnath, Palampur, Chamba, and Una.

They were made to stay in a room in Chandigarh. Their phones were switched off. At around 10:30 pm, two persons came to their room and gave them a paper with multiple options. Correct answers were marked in it. They were asked to cram the paper. Thereafter, Manish Kumar was dropped back and he went straight to the examination center. The same questions were there in the paper, said the Shimla FIR.

As a result, Manish Kumar scored 67 marks in the written exam. Other persons belonging to Una and Chamba were sent back separately.

From the interrogation of Manish Kumar, it is clear that this cheating has taken place in Una and Chamba as well and the possibility of similar offence by candidates in other districts in HP cannot be ruled out, said the Shimla FIR.

The HP police have arrested more than 170 people including candidates, parents, and agents in the case so far and three charge sheets have been filed too. It came out that an organized network of interstate kingpins and agents was behind it and the accused hailed from other states too including Bihar, UP, Delhi, Uttrakhand, and Rajasthan. A state-level SIT interrogated senior police officials in the case.