The CBI, which is investigating the issue of the leak of questionnaires on the Himachal Pradesh recruitment exam, raided five cities of the state, including Lucknow, on Tuesday. The CBI searched the home of Abhishek Singh, accused of leaking questionnaires, located in Madhav Green Society near Amity University in Lucknow.
The team from Chandigarh reached UP and collected evidence from the suspects’ hideouts in Varanasi, Jaunpur, Ghazipur and Ambedkar Nagar. According to CBI sources, the Himachal Pradesh Police SIT, which was previously investigating the case, had arrested Abhishek Singh of Lucknow in May 2022 on charges of leaking the newspaper.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Abhishek was in contact with three candidates and provided them with papers. Although he later got bail. Apart from this, the SIT also arrested Ghaziabad-based printing press owner Shailendra Vikram Singh, Varanasi-based mastermind Shiv Bahadur and his accomplice Akhilesh.
Meanwhile, at the request of the Himachal government, the investigation was handed over to CBI’s Special Crime Branch, Chandigarh. The research agency took simultaneous action Tuesday in 50 locations in seven states. The question forms of this exam, which will be held on March 27, 2022, had already been leaked.
The investigation revealed the network of several intermediaries. An organized network of gangs selling paper to candidates for lakhs of rupees was found in Bihar, Uttarakhand, UP, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab.