APSC cash for job scam: Commission finds handwriting mismatch in answer sheets

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Justice Biplab Kumar Sharma Commission, which is probing the allegations of anomalies and malpractices in the conduct of the Combined Competitive Examination (CCE), 2014 of the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC), is convinced that the handwriting of a specific candidate who had qualified in the CCE, 2014, does not match with the handwriting in her answer sheets.

After scrutinizing the answer sheets of some candidates who had qualified in the CCE, 2014, the Commission had doubts over the answer sheets of a few candidates. The Commission then took the help of forensic experts to examine the doubtful answer sheets. The handwriting samples of these candidates were collected and sent to the Forensic Analytical Crime Lab (FACL) to ascertain whether the handwriting in the answer sheets matched with the handwriting of the respective candidates.

According to the report of FACL, the handwriting of one candidate - now an officer in the allied services-did not match with the handwriting in her six answer sheet booklets. The inside pages of these answer sheet booklets were fake and only the front pages were original.

Based on the report, the Commission issued a show-cause notice to the female officer and asked her to come and check her answer sheet booklets and give her statement. The officer, however, did not appear before the Commission and instead, sent a written statement. She stated that she had appeared for the CCE, 2014 and written all the answer sheets herself. Regarding the mismatch in handwriting, she said that someone had conspired against her.

When the Justice Biplab Kumar Sharma Commission again scrutinized her answer sheet booklets, the Commission found that based on the marks scored on the fake pages of the answer sheet booklets, the officer had qualified in the CCE, 2014. The Commission is, therefore, convinced that there were irregularities in the selection of this officer. The Commission will mention this in its report. The extended term of the Commission will end on August 31, 2023, and the Commission has begun the process of drafting the report.

The Dibrugarh Police had probed the multi-crore APSC cash-for-job scam. Interestingly, the female officer stayed off the radar of Dibrugarh Police during their investigation. The Assam Government later formed a one-man judicial inquiry commission headed by Justice Biplab Kumar Sharma, a retired Judge of Gauhati High Court, to inquire into the allegations of anomalies and malpractices in the conduct of CCE, 2013 and CCE, 2014. The Commission has already submitted its report regarding CCE, 2013.

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