HPSC Scam for Pay Poll: Company Director has no role in falsifying OMR sheets

Sources said that although Jasbir, the manager of Safedot E solution pvt ltd, had been appointed to the FIR, preliminary investigations revealed that he had not played any part in the scam and that he would likely get a good result.
The accused demanded and accepted a huge bribe from the candidates appearing for the recruiting exam for HCS and dentists. A senior officer told The Indian Express that Jasbir Singh’s name was “abused” by the accused to extract more money from candidates who sat for these recruitment exams.

“Naveen was the first accused to be caught red-handed with the bribe money. He took the name from Ashwani Sharma, who is a resident of Jhajjar. Ashwani and HPSC’s deputy secretary at the time, Anil Nagar, were in touch. Rather, it was the Ashwani agency that did the forgery work. Jasbir Singh and his agency’s name have been misused by these people to make it appear genuine, ”the officer said, adding that Jasbir had not yet been arrested, but would be summoned for questioning. and that he would most likely become a witness in the case.

Jasbir’s agency was working for HPSC for the “online application portal”. HPSC sources said he and his company were blacklisted during the term of the former HPSC chairman for “irregularities”. However, it is not yet clear how he got the working order from the HPSC again in the current setup.

The officer added that this is a tight record for the conviction of the accused. “The first defendant was caught in the act with the marked tickets. Over 1 crore rupees were recovered from the second accused. The HCS officer was caught in the act of accepting a bribe in his office and the forged OMR sheets were also recovered from him. So far, over Rs 3.6 crore has been recovered from the accused. There is no way the accused can escape conviction.

Vigilance office officials added that although the defendants have been placed in judicial custody, the investigation into the case is ongoing and further arrests cannot be ruled out. The incident came to light after Hisar resident Narendra filed a complaint alleging tampering with OMR sheets and Naveen’s demand for a bribe. When Naveen was arrested, he turned things around and more arrests followed.

Elaborating on how Jasbir’s name appeared in the FIR, sources said the complainant could only write what the accused Naveen or Ashwani told him. “They were misleading the complainant so that they could get more money. However, the investigation revealed that it was not Jasbir’s agency, but it was Ashwani who was involved in the forgery, ”added an officer from the vigilance bureau.

Meanwhile, the opposition was targeting the state government for trying to “cover up” the scam by failing to arrest key players who may also be involved. AICC General Secretary Randeep Surjewala, Abhay Chautala of INLD, Opposition Leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, HPCC Leader Kumari Selja and several other opposition leaders have called for a judicial inquiry into the recruitments that have taken place over the past seven years.

Sources within the vigilance office, however, said that regardless of the apprehensions raised by the opposition, the investigations underway in this case were “watertight”.