The Jharkhand Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested another accused in connection with alleged irregularities in the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) Combined Graduate Level (CGL) Examination 2023, an official said on September 25.
The accused, identified as Manu Kumar Singh, is a resident of Devaria in Bihar’s Saran district. He allegedly helped several candidates gain unfair advantages during the examination, some of whom later cleared the test.
With the latest arrest, the total number of arrests in the case has risen to 16. Kundan Kumar and Samir Kumar, who were already in judicial custody, were also taken on remand by the CID for questioning.
JSSC CGL 2023 Was Cancelled Following Student Protests
The JSSC CGL 2023 examination was among 44 recruitment examinations that were cancelled by the state government following protests over alleged irregularities. The protests intensified on July 25, with students demanding a CBI probe and cancellation of the CGL recruitment examination.
The state government’s decision was later stayed by the Jharkhand High Court after candidates who had cleared the recruitment examination challenged the cancellation.
Student leader Ravindra Paswan, while reacting to the Jharkhand High Court’s decision to stay the state government’s order concerning the cancellation of the 11th to 13th JPSC examinations and appointments, had said, “With whatever we saw in the Court today, it became clear that the Government deceived the lakhs of students in Jharkhand. The Government cheated lakhs of students of Jharkhand. It was fine until you were not cancelling the exam, until you were not agreeing to a CBI investigation.”
Protests Over Recruitment Examinations
Thousands of students participated in the ‘Vidhan Sabha Gherao’ march on August 10 to protest against the alleged irregularities in the examination. Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and BJP leader Raghubar Das also joined the JPSC-JSSC protests on August 11.
The BJP had also called for a statewide bandh to protest the alleged police action against students during the JPSC-JSSC protests in Ranchi.
“There is a mess in the recruitment process—opacity, alleged scams, and systemic failures. The Jharkhand government must fix this and deliver justice to hardworking aspirants,” protesters had said.
Other cancelled examinations included the JPSC 11th to 13th Civil Services examinations, CDPO, Drug Inspector, Civil Judge, Assistant Conservator of Forest, Forest Range Officer, Assistant Professor and other recruitment examinations.
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