Ranchi, Dec. 14: A vigilance bureau probe ordered by the governor into the “acts of grave irregularities, forgery, interpolation and fraud” in conducting the second civil services exams in 2007-08 is stuck in limbo.
Under President’s rule, Governor M..H. Farook had on June 9 set a three-month deadline to conclude investigations into the scam and sought further inquiry into other examinations, including those for appointing lecturers and marketing supervisors, conducted by the JPSC.
But the probes have allegedly been put on the backburner ever since the BJP-led government came to power on September 11.
Farook had sacked 19 officials after the vigilance made a prima facie case of fraud and forgery against them. They were said to be relatives and friends of JPSC members, senior bureaucrats and politicians.
According to sources, a further probe found interpolations in answer scripts of 130 out of 172 candidates, who cleared the civil services exam. Thereafter, the vigilance sent 34 answer scripts to a forensic lab outside the state for verification. “Now, it is waiting for the permission of DGP (vigilance) to send another batch of papers,” a source said.
Sources also claimed that the vigilance had not intensively interrogated teachers from various universities, who had been appointed evaluators and members of the interview board or influential persons whose wards had been selected. The move would have helped the bureau gather credible evidence to nail the former JPSC chairman, members and beneficiaries, they said. “Besides, it has not worked much on the order of the governor to complete investigations into the assets and properties of the former chairman and JPSC members,” the source added.
Former JPSC chairman Dilip Prasad and members Gopal Prasad Singh, Shanti Devi and Radha Govind Nagesh are still at large. The vigilance only arrested former JPSC secretary Alice Usha Rani Singh on November 9. They were all at the helm of affairs during 2007-08 when the examinations were held.
Confronted, IG (vigilance) M.V. Rao admitted that some answer scripts were yet to be examined. “We hope to complete investigations within a month,” he said, adding that probe could not be intensified because of manpower crunch.
Rao also pointed out that there were some legal hurdles in attaching properties of the former JPSC chairman and members who were evading arrests.
Jharkhand High Court, in a case filed by Prasad challenging the vigilance court’s order to attach his property, had ruled that attachment could not be carried out till his anticipatory bail plea was decided. “We have requested the state government to challenge this order in Supreme Court,” Rao said.
