Pallavi Sareen
Jammu, Sep 13: Central Bureau of Investigation raided around 33 locations across the country including Jammu and Kashmir in connection with Jammu and Kashmir Sub-Inspector recruitment scam.
According to CBI sources, CBI raided official residence of former JKSSB (Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board) Chairman Khalid Jahangir in Jammu as well as in Kashmir besides raiding the residence of ex-Controller of JKSSB Ashok Kumar at Colonel’s Colony in Hazuri Bagh area of Talab Tilloo in Jammu city.
CBI sources said that the 33 locations included 14 locations in Jammu and Kashmir. they added that in Haryana, raids were conducted in Karnal, Mahendergarh and Rewari. Locations in Gandhi Dham of Kutch in Gujarat, Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, Bangalore city in Karnataka, and Delhi were also raided.
Sources said that searches were also being conducted in the premises of officials of J&K Police, DySP and CRPF. CBI sources said that the residences of DySP Jammu K.D Bhagat, Constables of J&K Police Raman Sharma, Kewal Krishan (alias Vicky) and Sunil Pangotra as well as Amit Sharma, Pawan Kumar and Sunil Sharma from CRPF were raided.
They added that residence of ex-PRO of ex-Deputy CM of J&K Tara Chand namely Vijay Kumar, Jagdish Kumar also woke up to find CBI sleuths at his home in Narayana, Akhnoor. Three more residents of Akhnoor – Suresh Kumar Sharma resident of Tonk Jagir, Rakesh Kumar resident of Mawa Brahmana and Thoru Ram and sons from Khour Pallanwala were raided, according to CBI sources.
Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had conducted raids on August 5 at 30 locations in Jammu and Kashmir in alleged irregularities in the recruitment of Sub-Inspector in Jammu & Kashmir police.
Raids were conducted at 28 locations in Jammu, one at Srinagar and at a house in Bangalore. Dr Karnail Singh, Medical Officer in Border Security Force had been named as a key conspirator along with officials of the J-K service selection board in the FIR, he added.
The alleged irregularities surfaced after significant candidates of a coaching institute in Jammu had made it to the merit list.The agency that conducted the online examination has also been named in the FIR. There are a total of 33 accused in the FIR registered by the CBI. The case is under investigation.
Meanwhile, Manoj Sinha, last month cancelled the Police Sub-Inspector recruitment process in the state and recommended a CBI probe into the selection process.
“JKP Sub-Inspector recruitment has been cancelled & a CBI probe has been recommended into selection process. Culprits will be brought to justice soon. It’s a first big step towards securing future of our youth & govt will soon decide future course of action for fresh recruitment,” he said in a tweet.
The cancellation came amidst allegations of irregularities in the selection procedure.He said that a new recruitment process will be implemented in case any anomalies are discovered during the investigation.
On June 4, the Jammu and Kashmir Selection Board had announced the list of 1,200 successful candidates. Over 97,000 people took the exam for the positions. However, shortly after the results were announced online, unsuccessful candidates staged a protest on the streets, accusing the recruitment process of indulging in fraudulent means of selection.
