Jharkhand CID arrests 16th person in JSSC-CGL examination probe

• The Jharkhand CID has arrested Manu Kumar Singh over alleged irregularities in the JSSC-CGL 2023 examination

• An official said Singh allegedly helped several candidates gain an unfair advantage; 16 people have now been arrested in the case

• The high court has stayed the government’s decision to cancel the examination following a petition by candidates who cleared it

The Jharkhand Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested another person in its probe into alleged irregularities in the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission’s Combined Graduate Level (JSSC-CGL) examination held in 2023, an official said on Friday.

The accused, Manu Kumar Singh, is a resident of Devaria in Bihar’s Saran district. He allegedly helped several candidates gain an unfair advantage in the examination, the official said, adding that some of those candidates subsequently cleared the test.

Singh’s arrest brings the number of people apprehended in the case to 16. The CID has also taken two accused who are in judicial custody, Kundan Kumar and Samir Kumar, on remand.

The investigation follows protests by job aspirants that began on 25 July. They demanded the cancellation of examinations conducted by the JSSC and the Jharkhand Public Service Commission, as well as a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities.

On 18 August, the state government announced that it was cancelling several recruitment examinations, including JSSC-CGL 2023. The aspirants then withdrew their protest. The Jharkhand High Court subsequently stayed the cancellation decision after candidates who had cleared the examination challenged it.

With PTI inputs