Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday said the officials allegedly involved in leaking the first division assistant (FDA) examination question papers may be dismissed from service in wake of further arrests in the case. The exam conducted by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) was to take place on Sunday but was cancelled following the expose on the question paper leak racket.
"We will initiate stringent action against all those involved in the case. I am not only ready to suspend them but also dismiss them from the service," the Chief Minister told reporters.
Stating that the officers concerned have been suspended, he said he would get the matter investigated.
"It is an unpardonable act to leak the question papers even before the exams are held," Yediyurappa said.
As earlier reported, the Central Crime Branch of Bengaluru police had arrested six persons on Saturday evening after they carried out a raid to unearth the racket. Rs 24 lakh in cash and the question papers which were allegedly being sold to job aspirants were also recovered.
Meanwhile, the Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil, in a statement, said based on the inputs given by the kingpins of the racket - Rachappa and Chandru - eight more have been arrested taking the total arrested to 14.
A senior police officer from Central Crime Branch (CCB) had earlier said that a special team conducted raids in Ullal in Jnanabharathi Police Station limits based on a tip off. The police added that the gang was using the stolen vehicles to circulate the question papers to job aspirants who had approached them a few days ago and paid some money in advance.
The KPSC was to conduct this exam for 1,112 vacancies for the post of First Division Assistant, out of which 975 are reserved for Residual Parent Cadre (RPC) and 137 for Hyderabad Karnataka Local Cadre (HK) and cumulative about 3.75 lakh job aspirants had applied for these posts across the state.