Acting on instructions from Gujarat Panchayat Service Selection Board (GPSSB) and other "authorities", the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Thursday arrested 30 candidates who are alleged to have bought leaked question papers of competitive examinations for the post of junior clerks. The papers had been leaked after before the examinations on January 29.
The ATS officials said that the arrest of 30 candidates is based on documents seized while investigating the main suspects including Bhaskar Bhatt. They said that during search, call letters, blank cheques, original certificates and other documents belonging to the arrested candidates were found from Chaudhary's office in Vadodara.
In a release, the ATS officials said that the accused had allegedly agreed to pay Rs12 lakh to Rs15 lakh to the main accused to get the question papers ahead of the examination. It said that 30 accused gave their certificates and other documents to the main accused as "guarantee" for payment. The list of accused including seven women. Earlier, the ATS had arrested 19 suspects including Bhaskar Bhatt in the case.
The development comes three days ahead of recruitment exams that GPSSB is going to reconduct. On January 29, GPSSB was forced to cancel the examination for which over 9.50 lakh candidates had reached their centers. It was the 14th instance of question papers of recruitment exams getting leaked right before the exams.
The Bhupendra Patel-led BJP government has been facing flak from the opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party over leaks. Last month, the government passed a bill to bring a special law to tackle with such leaks. The government has been publicizing the "special law" which has a provision of imprisonment upto ten years and Rs1 crore as fine.
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