CBI arrests 26 railway officials involved in departmental exam paper leak

CBI arrests 26 railway officials involved in departmental exam paper leak

The CBI on Tuesday said it has arrested 26 railway officials including a senior divisional electrical engineer of East Cental Railway for allegedly leaking papers of a departmental examination and seized Rs 1.17 crore cash during its raids.

The railway officials were arrested on Monday night for allegedly leaking papers of examination for the elevation to posts of chief loco pilot at Mughal Sarai, the agency said, adding the exam was to be conducted on Tuesday.

Sources in the agency said that the examination has now been cancelled.

"During the checks conducted by CBI, at three spots on the intervening night (March 3-4) at Mughal Sarai, a total of 17 candidates were found with photocopies of hand-written question papers," a CBI spokesperson said.

All 17 departmental candidates who are presently working as loco pilots had allegedly paid money for the question paper and were caught red-handed with the copies during the raid, he said.

"Overall, 26 railway officials (including the 17 aspirants) have been arrested in this case so far," the spokesperson said in a statement.

The agency has registered the FIR against a senior divisional electrical engineer (operations) who was given the responsibility for setting and preparing the question paper for the said examination.

"He himself had written the questions in English and allegedly gave it to one loco pilot who in turn translated it into Hindi and further gave it to another official. The said official allegedly gave it to the candidates through few other railway employees," the spokesperson said.

Accused senior divisional electrical engineer (operations) is among the arrested officials, he said.

"Searches were conducted at eight locations which resulted in recovery of Rs 1.17 crore in cash. The amount was reportedly collected from the candidates for leaking the question papers.

"The hand-written question papers along with their photocopies were seized. These question papers have been tallied with the original question paper and were found to have matched," the spokesperson said.