Four more arrested in Assam Police exam paper leak scam

GUWAHATI: Four more persons have been held in connection with the Assam Police exam paper leak scam, taking the total number of arrests so far to 49, officials said on Sunday.

During two days of marathon raids in four districts by multiple teams, around Rs 5.4 crore cash were also recovered, an Assam Police spokesperson said.

The official said three persons, including a government employee, were arrested from Bongaigaon district, while one was taken into custody from Guwahati by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Police have so far registered five cases across the state and 20 persons were arrested by the CID, followed by 13 by Nalbari district police, 11 by Crime Branch of Guwahati Police and five by Lakhimpur district police.

There has been no arrest yet against the case registered at Diphu in Karbi Anglong district.

Police has not yet got hold of the culprit, who had leaked the paper to the candidates through social media.

The CID, which is the main investigator, has so far seized documents, laptops, desktops, hard disks, blank cheques and several luxury vehicles from different parts of the state, he said.

"Raids were conducted in Bongaigaon, Barpeta and Chirang districts on the intervening nights of October 10 and 11.

A total of Rs 5,35,38,640 have been recovered during the search," the spokesperson said.

On Sunday morning, a search operation was conducted by the CID at Trishna Global Pvt Ltd located in Guwahati and cash worth Rs 4,20,500 along with nine signed blank cheques and two laptops were recovered, he added.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Assam DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta had said: "Our prime objective is to investigate who leaked the paper.

There will be no stone unturned to find that.

" On September 20, the question paper of the written examination for 597 posts of unarmed sub-inspectors in Assam Police was leaked, and the State Level Police Recruitment Board (SLPRB) cancelled the test minutes after it had commenced.

Around 66,000 candidates had downloaded their admit cards for appearing in the written tests across 154 centres in all the districts On September 12, the then SLPRB Chairman Pradeep Kumar had issued a notice, cautioning the candidates against touts, after a viral audio clip claimed jobs for the sub-inspector post against payment of Rs 4 lakh cash.

Owning moral responsibility for the scam, Kumar had later resigned from the post and the state government reconstituted the SLPRB with the DGP as its chairman.