Ex-RPSC member among 3 held for 2022 paper leak

Jaipur: The Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan police arrested three people Sunday – including former Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) member Babu Lal Katara – in connection with the alleged leak of the Agriculture Science paper of the 2022 School Lecturer Recruitment Examination.

The other accused arrested in the case includes Katara’s nephew Vijay Damor and school lecturer Ashok Kumar Yadav, officials said.

According to ADG Vishal Bansal, the investigation revealed that candidates illegally secured appointments using forged backdated BEd and MSc Agriculture (Agronomy) mark sheets procured through OPJS University, Churu.

Bansal said the probe began after confidential inputs suggested large-scale manipulation in the recruitment process. Based on the information received, SOG registered a case under sections related to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy against a school lecturer, one Anita Chaudhary, officials of OPJS University and others.

During the investigation, the role of Yadav, a school lecturer posted in Sikar district, came under scrutiny. Investigators said he submitted forged BEd and MSc Agriculture mark sheets, based on which he managed to secure the third spot in the examination’s merit list.

Officials said analysis of his scores raised suspicion, as he performed poorly in the General Knowledge paper but scored exceptionally high in the Agriculture Science paper.

During interrogation, Yadav allegedly confessed that he had struck a Rs 7-lakh deal with one Vinod Rewad, an alleged member of the Anil alias Sher Singh Meena gang, to obtain a solved question paper before the examination.

The probe revealed that Meena procured the Agriculture Science paper from then RPSC member Katara in exchange for Rs 60 lakh. Investigators alleged that after preparing the paper, Katara illegally took it to his government residence, where his nephew Damor copied it into a register.

SOG officials claimed that Damor was himself set to appear for the Geography paper in the same recruitment examination. Since Katara was not involved in setting the Geography paper, he apparently asked Meena to arrange the General Knowledge and Geography papers for Damor.

Investigators alleged that all the leaked question papers were later circulated through members of the network and supplied to candidates in exchange for money.

Katara was earlier booked and arrested in the 2022 senior teacher exam paper leak case and the 2021 sub-inspector (SI) recruitment paper leak case.