Jaipur: The Special Operations Group (SOG), Rajasthan, has taken major action in a serious case involving large-scale fraud and manipulation of examination results in three recruitment examinations conducted by the Rajasthan Staff Selection Board (RSMSSB).
The examinations concerned are the Supervisor (Women Empowerment) Direct Recruitment Examination-2018, Laboratory Assistant Recruitment Examination–2018 and Agriculture Supervisor Recruitment Examination–2018.
Providing details, Additional Director General of Police, SOG, Rajasthan, Vishal Bansal, stated that a total of 3,212 posts were advertised under these examinations, for which 9,40,038 candidates had applied. The examinations were conducted in 2019. The confidential work of scanning OMR sheets and data processing for result preparation was outsourced to Rahav Limited, New Delhi.
During the investigation, it was revealed that after scanning the OMR sheets, employees of the firm manipulated the actual examination data stored in computer systems.
Marks of selected candidates were fraudulently increased to ensure the selection of ineligible candidates. Upon re-scanning of the original OMR sheets by the Board, serious discrepancies were detected between the actual marks and the final results.
The investigation revealed that Sanjay Mathur, then Deputy Director (System Analyst-cum-Programmer) and Head of Technology, RSMSSB, who was responsible for the entire OMR scanning and result preparation process, played a key role in the criminal conspiracy.
He misused his official position and colluded with employees of the outsourced firm and internal staff to manipulate examination results and provide undue benefits to favoured candidates.
It was further found that scanned OMR sheets were digitally altered using image-editing software to mark correct answers. In several cases, candidates who had actually scored 30-60 marks were shown as scoring 185-259 marks in the final results.
For instance, accused Poonam Mathur, who had secured approximately 63 marks, was fraudulently shown as having obtained 182 marks.
It has also emerged that when the Rajasthan Staff Selection Board constituted an internal administrative committee to probe the matter, two prime accused - Sanjay Mathur and Praveen Gangwal - were made members of the committee, indicating a deliberate attempt to influence and derail the investigation.
Following an intensive investigation conducted by Investigating Officer Yashwant Singh under the supervision of DIG SOG Paritosh Deshmukh, the accused have been arrested, including Shadan Khan, Vinod Kumar Gaur, Poonam Mathur, Sanjay Mathur, then Deputy Director (System Analyst), RSMSSB, Jaipur and Praveen Gangwal, Programmer, RSMSSB, Jaipur.
The investigation has revealed that senior officials not only ensured the selection of their known candidates but also received lakhs of rupees in illegal gratification for manipulating the results of other candidates through employees of the outsourced firm.
The accused have been booked under the following provisions of the Indian Penal Code: Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B, Rajasthan Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 1992: Sections 3, 5, and 6, Information Technology Act, 2000: Sections 66 and 84-B. The investigation is continuing to identify additional beneficiaries, financial trails, and the full extent of the examination scam, said officials.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.