Army recruitment scam: CBI registers case against 17 officials

In the ongoing investigation in the army recruitment scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday said it has registered a case against 17 Army officials.

"CBI says it has registered a case against 17 Army officials including Lieutenant Colonel, Major, Naib Subedar, Sepoy etc; 6 private persons and others on allegations pertaining to bribery and irregularities in recruitment of officers and other ranks through Service Selection Board (SSB)," informed CBI.

Earlier today, searches were conducted by CBI today at 30 places including Base Hospital, Cantonment, other Army establishments, civilian areas in Kapurthala, Bathinda, Delhi, Kaithal, Palwal, Lucknow, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Vishakhapatnam, Jaipur, Guwahati, Jorhat and Chirangon.

The searches at 30 places led to the recovery of several incriminating documents.

On March 14, in a similar way, after detecting malpractices in the officers' selection at its centre in Punjab during a military intelligence operation, the Indian Army has handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for probing the case in detail.

The Service Selection Centres (SSCs) carries out the Services Selection Board (SSB) tests. The SSC under the scanner for malpractices is located in the Kapurthala district of Punjab.

On March 8, a 45-year-old army officer of a major rank was arrested by Pune city police in Tamil Nadu in connection with the Army recruitment exam paper leak. The police further informed that it was the ninth arrest in the case in which two different FIRs were registered with the police last month.

Earlier in February, in a joint operation with military intelligence of southern command of the Indian Army, Pune city police had arrested eight accused in this case including two serving defence personnel, a defence civilian and some who were running pre-military training institutes in different parts of the country.

The army recruitment exam scheduled for February 28 was cancelled by the Indian Army after the leak was revealed.

( With inputs from ANI )