The Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) has issued showcause notices to 55 candidates of the Junior Engineer (JE-Civil) Main Written Examination, asking why they shall not be barred for lifetime from recruitment in the OSSC.
It was alleged that they had taken the help of the purported mastermind of a question paper leak.
Following the question paper leak, the examination was cancelled. The fresh examination for JE (Civil) Main is scheduled to be held on September 3.
A notification on the showcase notices was issued by the OSSC on Saturday. The OSSC in a notification said: “In pursuance of a report from SP, Balasore, OSSC has yesterday (July 28) issued showcause notice to 55 candidates as to why they shall not be barred lifetime from recruitment of OSSC.”
The notification added: “Efforts are on to link the remaining 37 candidates with their applications in coordination with Balasore police. Some more information has been requested from the police to help link the candidates with the applications. The OSSC is committed to taking exemplary action against all candidates who are involved in unfair practices, including the question leak.”
Balasore police have so far arrested 17 people, including the alleged mastermind of the question paper leak, Vishal Kumar Chaurasia. Vishal Kumar, a Bihar government employee, was arrested in Patna.
According to the police, the modus operandi of the racket involved acquiring the question papers after the final copy was printed and before it was sent to the respective examination centres by the printing press.
“They then take away the original certificates of the candidates and provide them with the leaked question paper. After the exams were over, if the questions matched, the candidates were asked to pay half the amount instantly and the other half after the results are declared,” Balasore SP Sagarika Nath told The Telegraph.
The Opposition BJP and the ruling BJD have engaged in a verbal duel over the question paper leak. The BJP has demanded that the Odisha government hand over the question paper leak probe to the CBI. However, BJD maintained that Odisha police have been able to bust the inter-state racket.