Pune: Lieutenant Colonel, two other Armymen booked for ‘leaking’ answer key of recruitment exam

In a joint operation with the Indian Army, the CBI had in November arrested two serving Army Havildars from Pune on charges of bribery in the process of recruitment of civilian personnel for an Army Ordnance Corps formation located in the city.

Havildar Susant Nahak and Havildar Naveen Kumar were arrested for demanding and accepting money from candidates in the recruitment process for various civilian Group ‘C’ posts through examination organised by Army Ordnance Corps, Pune, in 2019.

According to the latest FIR, probe in the November case revealed that Nahak and his controlling officer of Lieutenant Colonel rank, whose name has not been revealed yet, were involved in another recruitment process for selection of personnel for various trades through the examination held in 2020-21. The probe revealed that on September 8 this year, the Lieutenant Colonel allegedly sent the answer key of the question paper to a cell phone number registered in the name of Nahak’s wife. From that number, the answer keys were forwarded to the phone number of the wife of an Army Sepoy identified as Alok Kumar posted with an Army Ordnance Corps formation in Pune, officials said.

A CBI official said that their probe has also brought to light money transfers made from Kumar’s wife to Nahak. Besides, the telephone chats between the Lieutenant Colonel, Nahak, Alok Kumar and his wife point to their involvement in various malpractices in the recruitment examination including leaking of answer keys to candidates in exchange for money, the official added.

Following the action in November, searches were conducted by the CBI on various premises of the two suspects and incriminating documents were seized, officials said. The latest FIR was registered under Prevention of Corruption Act against the Lieutenant Colonel, Nahak, Kumar and his wife on December 18.