KASARGOD: An invigilator in Kasargod blew the lid off a major scam in the direct recruitment of postmen and mail guards in the Department of Post when she reported a candidate from Haryana answering all the questions in Malayalam.
When the police arrived at the examination centre, they allegedly found a mobile phone with Gulbant, 22, with answer codes to all the 100 multiple choice questions in his inbox. Vidyanagar inspector Babu Peringath arrested Gulbant, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana, and impounded the phone.
He said candidates were frisked by his officers stationed outside the centre, but he managed to sneak in the phone. “Once inside, he messaged the code of his question paper to his accomplice, who inboxed him all the answers,” Peringath said.
Kerala Postal Circle conducted the aptitude examination to recruit 583 postmen across its 24 divisions and 11 mail guards for the Railway Mail Service on Sunday, according to its website.
In Kasargod, the examination was conducted at Govt Arts and Science College and Chinmaya Vidyalaya in Vidyanagar. The aptitude test has four sections - general knowledge, maths, English and Malayalam - with 25 marks each. At Chinmaya, invigilator Shameena Amir grew suspicious when she saw the ease at which Gulbant was attempting questions in Malayalam and called in the police.
On December 11, 2016, the Tamil Nadu Postal Circle conducted the same examination to recruit 300 postmen and mail guards for its 47 divisions. When the results were out in March this year, candidates from Haryana and Maharashtra topped in all the 47 divisions, raising the allegation the examination was a scam.
In TN, the fourth section test was in Tamil and candidates from Haryana and Maharashtra scored more than 80% in that.
TNIE’s Kaushik Kannan had obtained the marksheets of two candidates from Haryana - Dinesh and Rahul Kumar - and found both scored 24 and 22 out of 25 in Tamil. Express had reported that of the 300 recruits, 150 were from Haryana and Maharashtra. The minimum qualification for the posts is matriculation and the recruits come in pay level three with a pay scale of ` 21,700-69100.
Investigating officer Sub Inspector V V Raveendran of Vidyanagar station said Gulbant did not speak Malayalam. He was not cooperating with the investigation, the officer said. But the police suspect the answers were messaged to him from Sonipat, 20 km from Delhi, in Haryana.
Though politicians and candidates in Tamil Nadu alleged scam, this is the first time a person from Haryana had been allegedly caught in the act.
The examinations are conducted by private agencies but the question papers are set by the Department of Post. “It is very clear there is a racket behind the scam and questions and their answers are being leaked by corrupt officials,” he said.