J&K: BSF medical officer arrested in recruitment case sent to 10-day CBI remand

Jammu, Oct 20: A Border Security Force (BSF) medical officer arrested in connection with alleged irregularities in the recruitment of sub-inspectors was sent to 10-day CBI remand by a local court here, officials said.

The CBI on Tuesday arrested BSF Commandant (Medical) Karnail Singh for allegedly using touts to get his son the question paper of the police sub-inspectors' recruitment examination, conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB), officials had said on Wednesday.

The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Amarjeet Singh on Wednesday sent him to 10 days in remand, the officials added. The CJM, after going through the case diary, maintained that the investigation was at an initial stage and granted the investigating agency's prayer seeking remand of the accused.

The arrest of Singh, posted at BSF's Paloura Headquarters, brings the number of arrested persons in the scam to nine. While five persons are in judicial lock-up till October 29, three others have been sent to jail till October 21.

The question paper was allegedly provided to Singh early in the morning on the day of the examination, March 27, at a house in Gangyal in Jammu. It is alleged that some other candidates also got the leaked question paper at Singh's residence just a few hours before the examination.

Investigations have revealed that alleged payment of Rs 20-Rs 30 lakh was made by willing candidates and their families to the accused for accessing the question paper before the examination, the CBI said. The CBI had conducted two rounds of raids at multiple locations in connection with question paper leak.

The probe agency has also named Avinash Gupta, owner of a coaching centre in Akhnoor in Jammu district, and a Bengaluru-based company in its FIR, the officials said. Singh, who was called in for questioning by the CBI, did not cooperate with the investigation, prompting the agency to arrest him, sources said.

His wife and his daughter, however, claimed that Singh was innocent and said he was not involved in any scam. The J&K administration cancelled the police sub-inspector recruitment in July following allegations of irregularities and recommended a CBI probe. "The results were declared on 04.06.2022.

There were allegations regarding malpractice in the examination. The Jammu and Kashmir government had constituted an inquiry committee to look into the same," the CBI had said in a statement following searches on August 5.

"It was alleged that the accused entered into a conspiracy amongst officials of the JKSSB, Bengaluru-based private company, beneficiary candidates and others, and caused gross irregularities in conduct of written examination for the posts of sub-inspectors," it had said.

The inquiry report showed that there was an "abnormally high percentage" of candidates who were selected from Jammu, Rajouri and Samba districts, the agency had said. "Violation of rules by JKSSB was allegedly found in assigning the task of setting question paper to a Bengaluru-based private company," it had said.