BHUBANESWAR/BALASORE: Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) on Sunday cancelled the JE (civil) main written examination-2022 after receiving confirmation from police on the question paper leak. The exam was conducted on July 16.
“On the basis of the report of Balasore SP (in connection with Sahadevkhunta police station case) and in terms of clause 11 of detailed advertisement for combined technical services recruitment examination-2022, for Group-B state cadre posts in different offices of Odisha government, conducted on July 16 has been cancelled,” the OSSC notice said.
The JE (civil) main written examination was conducted as part of combined technical services recruitment examination-2022. A fresh main written examination for JE (civil) will be conducted on September 3, the commission announced.
Informing the matter, OSSC chairman Abhay on his Twitter handle wrote, “Cancellation of JE civil main written exam held on July 16. A fresh exam will be held on September 3.”Balasore police, on Sunday, confirmed that the question papers of JE Civil main entrance that was leaked to candidates in lieu of money were original. Nine persons were arrested last Sunday for allegedly leaking the question papers to the candidates.
SP Sagarika Nath said after the police interrogated the nine persons in remand on the issue, it was found that huge money was being dealt with in the matter. Fifteen mobile phones, three signed blank cheques, a bus, five four-wheelers and Rs 22,500 cash were seized from the possession of the accused. While six of the accused are from Odisha, the rest three belong to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. All of them are in the age group of 25-40 years, Nath added.
The SP said, acting on a tip-off, police intercepted some vehicles near Baruni Bridge on NH-16 and interrogated the occupants. Based on the information provided by them, Talasari-Udaipur Marine police raided a lodge and arrested the accused on July 16.
Explaining the modus operandi, Nath said, the accused had contacted some aspirants of the JE Civil main entrance examination scheduled to be held on July 16. They assured to provide them question papers for the examination in exchange of money ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh to be paid through cheques. The accused had asked the aspirants reach Balasore and even collected original documents, mobile phones and signed blank cheques from them, the SP said.