SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh Congress on Saturday submitted a memorandum to the Governor seeking a time-bound CBI inquiry into the case of question paper leak in the recruitment test for police constables.
A written test to recruit 1,334 constables in the state police force was conducted on March 27 in which about 75,000 candidates had appeared after clearing physical tests.
After reports of a paper leak surfaced, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had countermanded the exam, and on May 17, he announced that the case will be handed over to the CBI.
Himachal Pradesh Congress Election Campaign Committee Chairman and Screening Committee member Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who led the delegation to meet Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar at Raj Bhawan, urged that the CBI investigation be completed within 90 days.
The delegation questioned the Thakur government's "intention" and claimed that it had not issued the notification of the CBI probe yet.
Sukhu alleged that paper leaks had become a trend in the Thakur regime in the last four-and-a-half years.
"The government is playing with the future of lakhs of youth," he added.
Sukhu said he requested the Governor to direct the government to get the notification of the CBI investigation issued soon.
"The investigation should be completed within 90 days. The culprits should be sent behind the bars before August 15. The masterminds of the paper leak can be brought to the fore only if the CBI investigation is done in a time-bound manner," he said.
This was for the second time within three years that the state government nullified the examination to select constables.
In August 2019, the examination was held invalid after six men were caught impersonating as candidates.
State Congress working president Harsh Mahajan, MLAs Rohit Thakur, Anirudh Singh, Lakhwinder Rana, Satpal Raizada, Sanjay Awasthi, former MLA Sohan Lal, Himachal Youth Congress president Negi Nigam Bhandari and Shimla Urban district president Jitendra Chaudhary were also part of the delegation.
In its memorandum, the Congress also requested the Governor to order strict action against mining, liquor and drug mafia in the state, Sukhu said.