A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV and ACB) to probe into the paper leak case of Junior Office Assistant JOA-IT (JOA-IT) examination in Himachal Pradesh.

With the arrest of six persons including an employee of the Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission (HPSSC), Hamirpur, the Vigilance Department intends to unearth more revelations regarding alleged malpractices in past exams conducted by the commission.

A spokesperson of the SV and ACB said here on Monday that the team will be headed by DIG, SVACB, G Sivakumar and assisted by three Superintendents of Police (SPs) including Rahul Nath, Anjum Ara and Balbir Singh, four Additional SPs and three Deputy SPs and some inspectors and sub Inspectors.

They will conduct enquiries and conduct investigations to probe the allegations of any misconduct in the past examinations conducted by the commission. A separate tech-team has also been constituted to aid ongoing investigation in Hamirpur, said the spokesperson.

SV and ACB, Hamirpur, on 23^rd December received a complaint that a person named Sanjay alias Sanjeev Sharma had contacted the complainant with an offer to provide him with question papers of JOA-IT exams that was to be held on December 25 for Rs 2.5 lakh.

After verification of facts, a team, along with independent witnesses was constituted by the Vigilance Department, Hamirpur.

Sanjay again contacted the complainant to meet him at NIT Hamirpur and took the complainant to the house of Uma Azad, Senior Superintendent, Secrecy Branch, HPSSC, situated at the Housing Board Colony, Hamirpur.

Uma Azad along with her son Nikhil Azad provided the question papers and the team immediately apprehended them with cash and the question papers.

Three more persons including two candidates who had made online payments to the tout were also arrested. Searches of the house of the accused were conducted during which some important documents were recovered and also Rs 4 lakh and other incriminating evidence has also been recovered. Following the paper leak, the exams were cancelled.