2 selected candidates arrested

Karam Prakash

Patiala, November 19

The Patiala police on Friday arrested two candidates in the naib tehsildar recruitment scam. SSP Varun Sharma said Balraj Singh, who ranked second, and Varinderpal Chaudhary, ranked 21st, have been arrested for cheating in the examination held in May this year.

All selected candidates will be questioned by the police. "We have to record statements of all selected candidates as part of the investigation. Two have already been arrested while more arrests will follow," said a senior police officer. The top 20 position holders have been called for questioning, but, many of them are not coming forward, said a police officer privy to the investigation.

More exams under the scanner

• The police said two other competitive examinations held in the past were under the scanner for alleged cheating using devices
• "Arrested facilitators have named two exams in which they helped candidates. Soon, we will start investigation into both exams," said an officer
• It was previously reported that the arrested suspects had confessed to helping candidates in exams conducted in Haryana
• Many candidates have raised the demand for installation of jammers in future recruitment exams. The police said this practice could such cheating.

According to sources, five arrested suspects who had facilitated candidates in cheating had already disclosed their names. However, the police are still verifying the facts.

The police said two more exams were under the scanner, but did not reveal which ones. The PPSC has conducted a number of recruitment exams in the recent past, including those for recruitment of additional district attorneys on November 8, naib tehsildars in May, school principals in July, junior engineers of PSPCL, functional manager at the Department of Industries in June, Junior Engineer for various departments (civil) in March and veterinary officers in the Animal Husbandry Department.

The demand for installation of jammers has also been raised again by candidates to avoid such situations again.

"The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) that conducts exams for Category-A posts and the Punjab Subordinate Service Selection Board that conducts exams for group C and D posts use jammers for the recruitment examinations," said an applicant.

Soon after the results were announced, multiple candidates had written to the government demanding the installation of jammers and a probe into the recruitment process.

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