Pune: Lieutenant colonel among two arrested for leaking answer keys of Army recruitment examination

In December last year, the CBI had booked the officer along with two other Army personnel, a havildar and a sepoy, of the AOC for allegedly leaking the answer keys. The malpractice was unearthed when the CBI, along with the Indian Army, started probing an earlier case of bribery in which two Army havildars were arrested in November 2021 from Pune on charges of bribery in the process of recruitment of civilians an Army Ordnance Corps formation in the city.

The duo was arrested for demanding and accepting money from candidates in the recruitment process for various civilian Group ‘C’ posts through the examination organised by the Army Ordnance Corps, Pune, in 2019.

The probe had revealed that another havildar and his controlling officer of the Lieutenant Colonel rank were involved in another recruitment process for the selection of personnel through an examination held in 2020-21. The probe revealed that on September 8, 2021, the Lieutenant Colonel allegedly sent the answer keys of the question paper to a cell phone registered in the name of havildar’s wife. From that number, the answer keys were forwarded to the phone number of the sepoy’s wife.

A senior CBI officer confirmed that the Lieutenant Colonel and the sepoy were arrested on Monday night and are slated to be produced before the court on Tuesday. The officials of the central agency said that a probe is also on to find out how the answer keys got leaked to the candidates and how the money exchanged hands, among other things.

After the first action in November, searches were conducted at various premises of the two suspects and incriminating documents were seized.

In a statement issued after the action in November, the Southern Command had said, “Indian Army continues with its policy of zero tolerance for corruption. The Army has strict rules to deal with malpractices and is enabling expeditious investigation to ensure punitive action against the culprits.”