Gujarat paper leak: Hours before it was scheduled on Sunday (January 29), the Gujarat government's competitive examination for the recruitment of junior clerks was cancelled due to the paper leak. According to the information, Gujarat Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has detained at least 15 people so far from Vadodara as the matter is being investigated.
"Gujarat ATS was continuously keeping a watch on people who were related to previous paper leak incidents. 15 accused have been arrested from Vadodara with question papers. The government decided to cancel the exam. Further investigation is underway," said Sunil Joshi, SP of Guajart ATS.
The preliminary investigation revealted that out of 15 detainees, 10 were from Bihar and Odisha, while five others belonged to Guajarat. According to reports, they had gathered at the Ataldara office of Stakewise Technology in Vadodara on the direction of prime accused Pradeep Nayak, who had reached the city from Hyderbad with the original question paper.
However, before these people could take the paper and send it out, the ATS team raided the facility around 1.30 am on Sundyt and detained them.
The state panchayat exam board said that around 9.5 lakh candidates had registered for the exam for 1,181 posts which was to be held at 2,995 centres from 11 am and 12 noon across the state.
"The junior clerk (administrative/accounting) exam was to be conducted in different districts between 11 am and 12 noon on January 29. As per the information received from the police early Sunday morning, they detained some suspects and seized a copy of the question paper from their possessions," the board said in the statement.
Board expresses regret over the incident
The board also expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to the candidates and informed them not to go to the examination centres. "The examination will be conducted afresh at the earliest, for which the board will issue a new advertisement," it said.
Meanwhile, Gujarat Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) president Isudan Gadhvi lambasted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state over the paper leak issue. It should be noted here that Gujarat had been marred by a number of cases of competitive exam question papers leak that led to widespread agitation by the youth in the state.
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