Question racket runs deep
Question papers of at least 30 government recruitment job exams, including the Bangladesh Civil Service, have been leaked in the last 12 years.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) disclosed the findings in the first information report filed with the Paltan Police Station on Monday following the arrest of 17 people, including six officials of the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC).
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. A case was filed against 31 named and 50 to 60 unnamed people.
But how were the 17 people arrested?
Based on a tip-off, investigators found that the question paper of the recruitment exam for the post of sub-assistant engineer (non-cadre) of the railway conducted by the PSC was leaked on Friday (July 5).
CID also got the information that the accused were staying in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Motijheel, and Bashundhara R/A in the capital, and multiple teams started operations to arrest the accused.
Liton Sarkar, 25, a private university student, was the first one to be arrested from Shyamoli on Sunday night.
During interrogation, Liton said he received question papers from his associates Priyanath and Zahid.
In exchange for questions and answers, Liton paid Priyanath and Zahid.
Priyanath Roy, 51, was arrested from Mohakhali's SKS Tower Food Villa Hotel the same night.
During interrogation, Priyanath revealed that he used to get question papers from accused Zahid. He used to pay Zahid a certain amount of money in exchange for questions and answers.
Zahidul Islam, 27, was also later arrested from Shyamoli the same night.
Zahid during interrogation said question papers were collected through Sumon, of Rangpur, and Zahid used to pay him a hefty sum of the money he received.
Later, police arrested Noman Siddiqui, 44, an active member of the gang and the number two accused, from his flat in the Mirpur-10 area.
He admitted to his involvement in the question leak.
PSC Deputy Director (Sylhet) Jahangir Alam, 58, was arrested from Bashundhara Residential Area based on Noman's initial confession. Later, Shahadat Hossain was arrested from Mirpur, while Mamun and Niyamul were arrested from the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area of the capital.
During interrogation, Khalil's name came up -- one of the top members of the question-leak gang.
Khalil, a dispatch rider of PSC, had been leaking question papers of various exams, including the recruitment test for the post of sub-assistant engineer (non-cadre) of the railway on Friday (July 5). Based on specific allegations, Khalil was arrested from Mirpur's Pirerbagh area.
During interrogation, Khalil revealed that PSC Assistant Director SM Alamgir Kabir used to supply him with candidates for these examinations.
Alamgir has been leaking question papers of various examinations, including the recruitment test for the sub-assistant engineer (non-cadre) of the railway, for a long time, according to primary investigation.
Alamgir was arrested from a government residence in Mirpur area around 4:30am on Monday.
The name of Sajedul Islam, office assistant of PSC, and one of the masterminds of the ring, came up while CID was verifying the information obtained from Alamgir.
After his arrest, during interrogation, Sajedul told CID that PSC Deputy Director Abu Zafar used to leak question papers and he used to collect them through him.
Later, through his associates Sakhawat and Saime, Sajedul collected job seekers from different areas of Bangladesh and gathered them in rented houses or hotels in Dhaka and surrounding areas.
Sajedul used to distribute questions and answers to the candidates one or two days before the recruitment test.
In the same way, for the July 5 recruitment exam, the candidates were brought to a rented house in Paltan and Khilgaon areas and given the questions and answers.
During interrogation, the name of Syed Abed Ali, the driver of the former PSC chairman, came up in Sajedul's statement.
Confirming the development, Touhidul Islam, special superintendent of CID's cyber investigation and operation, told The Daily Star yesterday, "We are conducting a special drive to arrest the absconding criminals."
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