Shimla, May 25 In a major development in the high-profile Himachal Pradesh constable paper leak case, police on Wednesday said that it has zeroed in on Rajasthan-based Income Tax Department official, Sandeep Tailor, believed to be the kingpin of the scam.
Tailor is serving as tax assistant, Group-C, in Chittorgarh, is the kingpin of paper leak, a police statement said.
The investigation has revealed that he had taken Rs 300,000 each from seven candidates of Solan and Arki areas through two middlemen Virender Kumar and Dev Raj who have already been arrested by the Special Investigating Team (SIT).
The middlemen received Rs 50,000 for their services from Tailor. Police said 80-90 per cent payment was made online by the candidates, whereas some payment was made in cash.
Tailor's wife, Rinki Purva, is serving as a teacher in Government Senior Secondary School in Sangliya in Sikar district. It has been revealed that some amount has also been deposited in her bank account, making her an accomplice in the case.
In the paper leak case, 14 mobile phones and three vehicles have been seized by the SIT from the accused.
A special team of the police has already been deputed to Chittorgarh and Sikar to arrest Tailor.
The Director General of Police is also in touch with his counterparts in Rajasthan to ensure assistance of the local police to the special team of the state police, said the statement, adding the Rajasthan police constable exam also saw a "paper leak" last week.
Facing criticism in an election year, the BJP government in Himachal Pradesh last week announced handing over the probe to the CBI.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur made this announcement saying a decision in this regard was taken keeping in mind the sensitivity of the case as 10 suspects do not belong to the state.
He had told the media that 73 arrests, comprising 10 from outside the state, have been made, adding that the government has acted promptly in registering an FIR and setting up an SIT.
He said the mastermind in the case, Shiv Bahadur Singh, has been arrested from Varanasi, besides another accused was arrested from Bihar.
A written test for recruiting 1,334 constables was conducted on March 27 that saw 75,000 candidates appear.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor