‘Mastermind’ Cleared SSC Twice; 2 Teachers From Odisha Among 17 Arrested In OSSC Exam Paper Leak

Bhubaneswar: A day after arresting the mastermind in the alleged paper leak of the Odisha Staff Selection Commission’s (OSSC) junior engineer exam held on July 16, Balasore SP Sagarika Nath on Friday wrote to Bihar’s accountant general (AG) seeking departmental proceedings against him.

The brain behind the racket has been identified as Vishal Kumar Chaurasia. The 35-year-old native of Bihar had cleared the highly competitive central staff selection commission’s (SSC)’s combined graduate level (CGL) exam twice, in 2012 and 2013. He first worked as a tax assistant in the Income Tax department in Durgapur, West Bengal, from mid-2014 to 2016. After clearing the CGL again, he joined as a divisional accountant in the AG’s office in Patna. He is currently posted at Rural Works Department Advance Planning Division-II in Patna.

Nath has also sought similar action against another two accused, Gobinda Tripathy and Sushant Sahu, who are working as teachers in Kandhamal and Jajpur districts, respectively. She has also written to OSSC to restrain the 88 aspirants, involved in the deal, from appearing in any of its exams in future.

On Thursday, the SP had said that Chaurasia with his associates had eyes on printing presses across states where the question papers were being published. Initial investigation revealed that the question paper for JE civil main written examination by Odisha Staff Selection Commission was leaked from a printing press in Kolkata where another member of the gang, Virendra Singh, was employed as a helper. “Telephonic communication establishes that Chaurasia and Singh were in touch for the last two months, during which the former proposed Singh to supply him with any relevant information regarding the question papers being printed at his press,” Nath had told a presser.

Singh’s brother and Chaurasia knew each other and it was the former who had introduced his sibling to the mastermind, she added.

On July 11, Chaurasia received a confirmation from Singh on question paper related to the main examination for JE (civil) scheduled on July 16. “He then contacted Bijendra Kumar, a Bihar resident, who works as his main associate,” said Nath.

Bijendra was arrested on July 16, while distributing the question papers.

The SP further said that Rs 1 lakh was seized from Singh which was paid by Chaurasia as advance for leaking the question paper. The bank accounts of the accused traced so far have been frozen till further investigation and the property registered in the name of each of them is being identified, she said.

“We also found that he was earlier involved in a question paper leak of the test for the recruitment of sub-inspector and assistant sub-inspector, Central police organisation, conducted by the Central staff selection commission (SSC) in 2013-14. He had got the question paper leaked from a printing press in Allahabad with the help of a former associate,” the SP said.

It was detected by Delhi crime branch in August 2014. Arrested in this connection, Chaurasia was reportedly suspended and faced disciplinary proceedings. He got bail in 2015 and ran a coaching centre in Patna before joining government service.

Bijendra was earlier held in connection with question paper leak of Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission during 2013-14 and Bihar Public Service Commission in 2022. He was charging the aspirants between Rs 12-15 lakh for the question paper of junior engineer (civil-main) exam. However, no transaction took place between the accused and the candidates as the former along with eight other was nabbed by Balasore police hours before the examination from a hotel at Digha in West Bengal.

Of the 17 accused arrested so far, six are from Bihar, nine from Odisha, including a 29-year-old woman,  and one each from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.