Pune: Making the 10th arrest in the soldier recruitment examination paper leak case, the Pune Police with the help of Military Intelligence unit, arrested a serving officer of Major rank from a defence establishment in Tamil Nadu, who allegedly leaked the question paper to other suspects.
The arrested Army officer will be produced in the Pune Cantonment Court on Monday (March 8) afternoon. He was arrested on March 6 in Tamil Nadu and later brought to Pune for interrogation by Pune Police and Military Intelligence officials.
Pune police have registered two separate cases in this exam paper leak case. One case is registered at Wanawadi police station and the other at Vishrantwadi police station. Both the cases are being investigated by separate teams of the Crime Branch. The Tamil Nadu based officer has been arrested in the offence registered at Wanawadi police station.
Earlier, Pune police had arrested six suspects including two serving Army personnel in the Wanawadi case so far. In the Vishrantwadi case, police have arrested three persons including an ex-serviceman. The total number of arrests made in both cases combined are now ten.
The Military Intelligence Unit of the Southern Command Liaison along with the Pune Police Crime Branch had conducted raids recently. It was revealed during investigation that a question paper of the Common Entrance examination held for recruitment of soldiers (General Duty) was leaked before the actual exam on February 28. The leaked question paper was recovered during the raids. Following this action, the Indian Army has initiated action to eliminate the wrongful practices during the examination process.
Indian Army has said that it will make its recruitment process more robust and foolproof in order to ensure transparency and eliminate corrupt practices. The Indian Army's move came days after it was revealed that a question paper was leaked during the soldier recruitment process.
Also read: Indian Army recruitment process to be made robust and foolproof
In a statement issued regarding this, the Indian Army said, "In pursuance of Indian Army's resolve to ensure transparency and eliminate corrupt practices in recruitment, Indian Army and Maharashtra State Police are jointly investigating the recent case of leakage of question paper for Common Entrance Examination for recruitment of Soldiers (General Duty)."
It further stated, "The findings of the inquiry will be incorporated in the existing system of recruitment process to make it more foolproof and robust. Due process of law will be followed to proceed against persons who may have violated the standard operating procedures for conduct of such examinations."
Pune police are now investigating whether the same suspects were involved in similar fraud practices during earlier recruitment processes and whether there is participation of any private coaching institute in this racket.
