Dehradun: Uttarakhand Director General of Police (DGP) Ashok Kumar said that the graduation-level examination, which was conducted by the Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UKSSSC), is being investigated by Special Task Force (STF).
Other than this, the investigation of the Secretariat Guard and Junior Assistant (Judicial) examinations held earlier has also been handed over to the STF.
Earlier, the Uttarakhand STF had sent a report of all the accused to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), following the disclosure of the unaccounted assets believed to be held by them.
Kumar further said that this gang was caught in the year 2020 in connection with charges registered in Haridwar and Pauri Garhwal districts. The STF has also been directed to re-examine these charges. The gang had used a Bluetooth device to cheat in the Forest Guard examination, according to the DGP.
The case pertains to a written exam conducted by UKSSSC in December 2021. This was one of the major examinations conducted by the commission for 854 posts across 13 departments.
After the allegations of irregularities, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami called for a probe, following which the secretary of the commission was removed from the post.
SSP Ajay Singh had earlier told about the possibility of crores of rupees being collected in this case. So, far Rs 83 lakh has been recovered from the case.
Since the case was handed over to the STF, 18 people have been arrested so far. These include some prominent names like district panchayat member Hakam Singh. He was arrested near the Mori area near the Himachal Pradesh border after he returned to the country from a trip abroad on August 7.
Gaurav Chauhan, an Additional Private Secretary working in the Public Works and Forest Department of State Secretariat, was also arrested in connection with the case. Also, several officers and directors of a Lucknow-based printing press were called for questioning. This came after a staffer of the company was named a prime accused in the case post-arrest. —ANI
