Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, March 15: The Odisha Police today ordered a crime branch probe into the leakage of question paper for the recruitment test of constables that was scheduled for today.
The test was cancelled at the eleventh hour as reports of question paper leak surfaced. The examination was scheduled to begin at 11am.
The test was to be held for recruitment to 1,370 posts and nearly 19,039 examinees had been shortlisted for the written examination after clearing the physical fitness hurdle on February 15. The examinees were selected out of the 60,000 applicants. The cancellation of the test following leakage sparked widespread resentment among the candidates across the state.
The matter came to light after question papers were found being sold at different places, including Kendrapara and Rourkela.
However, police in Kendrapara and Rourkela maintained that the question papers were not leaked from their respective limits.
Superintendent of police, Kendrapara, Satish Gajbhiye said: "The seals on the question papers packets are intact. There was no leakage from our side. On the direction of the state selection board, Odisha Police, we have cancelled the examination."
After the question paper leak came to notice, director general of police, Sanjeev Marik, called an emergency meeting to take stock of the situation.
Additional director general of police and chairman of the State Selection Board, Odisha Police, Amrit Mohan Prasad said: "In a bid to ensure that the examination is conducted in a free and transparent manner, we have decided to cancel the written test that was scheduled to be held today. The Board has urged the Odisha Police for an impartial probe into the incident."
Prasad said that the Board would shortly announce the date of the next examination through various television channels and newspapers.
Early today morning, some local TV channels aired interviews of the examinees, who said they had received calls from brokers last night offering them questions papers in return for money. Most of the calls came from Cuttack, where the headquarters of the Odisha Police is located.
"I received the call around 11pm last night. I was asked to pay Rs 50,000 in advance for a set of question papers. Had I transferred the money through the ATM, I would have got the question paper as well as answer sheets in advance. Some of my friends managed to procure the question papers," said Pravat Ranjan Das (name changed for security reasons), one of the examinees.
Some local TV channels also flashed the question papers in their morning bulletin shortly before the examination was scheduled to begin. A section of examinees were, however, happy with the cancellation of the examination.
"It was good that the examination was cancelled. Otherwise the deserving candidates would have lost to the racketeers," said Dinesh Sethi, 25, from Jajpur.
Sethi said that he and his friends had already entered the examination hall and taken their seats when senior police officials came and announced that the examination had been cancelled. Some of the examinees said the police department should reimburse their travel expenses.
