Examiner held in JPSC scam

Ranchi, May 27: The vigilance police of Jharkhand has arrested an evaluator and a college lecturer for accepting Rs 9 lakh in bribe from a candidate appearing for the Jharkhand Public Service Commission administrative services examination of 2007-08, a breakthrough made possible only due to the the job aspirant complained when his name did not appear on the merit list as it was promised by them.

Saraswati Gagrai, an evaluator, and Anil Virendra Kullu, a lecturer in the Hindi department of S.S. Memorial College, Ranchi, were held yesterday by special team and sent to jail today on the complaint of Ramshankar Oreya, a resident of Khunti.

“This is a major breakthrough. This is the first concrete evidence that we have got. We would request all such candidates who had reportedly paid handsome sums for favour to JPSC members to come forward,” IG vigilance M.V. Rao told the media persons at Ranchi.

In his complaint, Oreya pointed out that during the time (2007-08), he was staying at a rented house at Harihar Singh Road, Ranchi, and that both Saraswati and Anil were his neighbors. When he appeared in the second JPSC examinations, he was aware that Saraswati was one of the examiners for the tribal languages paper.

Oreya said he approached the two for help. They demanded Rs 9 lakh and he paid them in full on the condition that they would help him clear the civil services exams.But later when the results were announced and Oreya did not find his name on the merit list, he confronted the two. They immediately refunded a part of the money.

“Both Saraswati, a JPSC evaluator, and Anil were arrested from a rented house at Harihar Singh Road. In the course of questioning, they admitted they had accepted Rs 9 lakh as bribe to help Oreya clear the civil services exams,” Rao said.

Subsequently, the vigilance police conducted a search operation of their house and found several documents, which apparently established that the two accused had accepted cash in return for a favor.

Both Saraswati and Anil were produced before the vigilance court, Ranchi, and were remanded in 14-day judicial custody. They have been lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail.

The state vigilance bureau is probing 10 cases of fraudulent appointments, favoritism, forgery, misuse of office and appointments of friends, relatives and others to various state services by manipulating results of examinations conducted by JPSC.