New Delhi [India], November 10 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested seven accused, including personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jammu and Kashmir police, in an ongoing investigation of a case related to Jammu and Kashmir Police recruitment scam.

Among those arrested in the case are head constable Pawan Kumar, constables Amit Kumar Sharma, Atul Kumar and Sunil Sharma. All three are with the CRPF.

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The other accused are Jaisuriya Sharma, an assistant sub-inspector in J&K police, Tarsem Lal of Pathankot in Punjab and Asheesh Yadav of Rewari in Haryana.

All seven accused were produced before the chief judicial magistrate's court in Jammu on Thursday.

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The CBI had registered a case in August on the request of the Jammu & Kashmir administration. The case was registered against 33 accused, including then medical officer, BSF Frontier Headquarters, Paloura; then member of Jammu & Kashmir Selection Board (JKSSB); then undersecretary and former section officer (of JKSSB); a former CRPF officer; an ASI of Jammu and Kashmir Police; owner of a coaching centre in Akhnoor; a private company based at Bengaluru; private persons and others on the allegations of irregularities in the written examination for the posts of sub-inspectors in the J&K Police. The exam was conducted by J&K Services Selection Board (JKSSB) on March 27, this year. The results were declared on June 4.

Facing alegations of malpractices in the exam, the Jammu & Kashmir administration constituted an inquiry committee to look into the matter. It was alleged that the accused conspired with officials of the JKSSB, the Bengaluru firm, beneficiary candidates & others, resulting in gross irregularities in the conduct of the written exam for sub-inspectors.

It was further alleged that there was an abnormally high percentage of selected candidates from Jammu, Rajouri and Samba districts. A violation of rules by the JKSSB was allegedly found while assigning the task of setting question papers to a Bengaluru-based private company.

The investigation also revealed the alleged payment of approximately Rs 20 to 30 lakh by willing candidates and their families to the accused in lieu of accessing the question paper before the exam.

Searches were also conducted across several states, including J&K, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka; the premises of the accused (retired and serving officials) and other persons, leading to the recovery of a large number of incriminating documents and digital evidence.

It was found that the accused conspited with others, including their relatives, to allegedly leak the question paper, solicited candidates for the sale of the leaked question paper, received or collected a huge cash amount of about Rs 20 lakh and transferred the same to different bank accounts.

Of the 13 accused arrested earlier, nine are presently in judicial custody and four in police custody. (ANI)

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