ED gets 7-day remand of 'kingpin' in 2022 JKSSB Sub Inspector paper leak case

The J&K Service Selection Board sub-inspector recruitment exam was held on March 27, 2022, but the selected list of 1,200 candidates along with 1,300 junior engineers and 1,000 finance account assistants was cancelled by the Jammu and Kashmir administration in July that year following allegations of paper leak and malpractice.

Jammu: A special court here Tuesday remanded the alleged kingpin of the 2022 JKSSB sub-inspector recruitment exam paper leak case to seven-day Enforcement Directorate custody.

Yatin Yadav (43), a resident of Haryana's Rewari, was arrested here Monday evening under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board (JKSSB) sub-inspector recruitment exam was held on March 27, 2022 but the selected list of 1,200 candidates along with 1,300 junior engineers and 1,000 finance account assistants was cancelled by the Jammu and Kashmir administration in July that year following allegations of paper leak and malpractice.

The case was handed over to the CBI and it filed a chargesheet against 33 accused including Yadav on November 12, 2022. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) case stems from the CBI FIR.

The ED moved an application through its special public prosecutor Ashwani Khajuria in the court of Special Judge, anti-corruption (CBI cases), Jammu Bala Jyoti on Tuesday and got seven days remand of the accused.

Yadav was produced in the court under proper custody by Investigating Officer Rahul Verma, Assistant Director, ED, Sub Zonal Office, Jammu who prayed for his remand for a period of 14 days.

"From a perusal of case diaries and entire material on record, it transpires that since the accused was arrested on June 24, and that investigation of the case is at initial stage, as such he is remanded to ED custody for a period of seven days with effect from June 25," the special judge said in her order.

She directed the ED to expedite the investigation against the accused within the remand period.

Yadav's arrest comes at a time allegations of irregularities in the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) and the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) have rocked the country, leading to the Centre handing over their investigation to the CBI.

The ED sources claimed that being the "kingpin" of the alleged paper leak gang, Yadav executed a well-crafted plan involving other accused touts based in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir to arrange candidates willing to access the leaked paper against payments ranging from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh.

Post examination, the payments collected from the aspirants— mainly in cash, were routed to Yadav's bank accounts, they said.

The ED had earlier attached Yadav's bank accounts, a company called New Global Fumigation Corporation and assets of some others worth Rs 1 crore as part of its probe.