NEW DELHI: The multi-crore railway recruitment scam unearthed by the CBI involved leaking of question papers for money.
Describing the modus operandi, a CBI officer said, "Each candidate contacted by agents working on behalf of the masterminds had to pay Rs 3.5 lakh. The aspirants were required to deposit their original certificates with the ADRM, one Jagannathan. The question paper was provided to them one day prior to the examination. To ensure that the candidates paid up the entire amount, Jagannathan would keep the original certificates of candidates with him till he received the full amount."
A red-faced Rail Bhavan went into damage-control mode by suspending the chairman of the Railway Recruitment Board, S M Sharma. The promptness made sense, considering that Sharma, like heads of other Recruitment Boards, was handpicked by the current dispensation. Railways asserted that nobody found guilty would be spared. However, it is doubtful that the tough talk would deter those who have rigged the recruitment processes, making a mockery of similar claims in the past.
The questions leaked in the latest instance concerned the countrywide test for recruitment of Assistant Loco Pilot and Assistant Station Master. The raids, according to the agency, were carried out at Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Raipur and Kolkata.
The scam, according to officials, runs into several crores of rupees. "We have seized Rs 60 lakh during searches in Mumbai in bank accounts of the family members of S M Sharma and the agency has seized bank passbooks and laptops. The Pajero was found to be registered in the name of one of their relatives," said CBI spokesperson Harsh Bhal. In Hyderabad, Rs 21.5 lakh in cash and original certificates of 444 aspirants were recovered from house of a former Assistant Divisional Railway Manager and Rs 12 lakh recovered from the possession of Jagannathan in Bangalore.
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