Due process of law will be followed against SOP violators: Army on recruitment exam paper leak

On the recent case of leakage of question paper for Common Entrance Examination for recruitment of soldiers, the Indian Army on Thursday said that due process of law will be followed against persons who may have violated the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the conduct of such examinations.

"In pursuance of Indian Army's resolve to ensure transparency and eliminate corrupt practices in recruitment, Indian Army and Maharashtra State Police are jointly investigating the recent case of leakage of question paper for Common Entrance Examination for recruitment of Soldiers (General Duty)," read a statement from the Indian Army.

"The results of the inquiry will be incorporated into the existing system of the recruitment process to make it more foolproof and robust. Due process of law will be followed to proceed against persons who may have violated the standard operating procedures for the conduct of such examinations," the Army said.

Seven people including two serving defence personnel, a defence civilian and two ex-Army personnel were arrested in an Army recruitment exam paper leak case on Tuesday.

The Army relations recruitment exam scheduled for February 28 was cancelled by the Indian Army after the alleged paper leak. So far city police officials have registered two different FIRs against 10 persons and have arrested seven accused.

"The exam was scheduled at 40 centres across the country and more than 30,000 students were supposed to take it. Two teams were formed to investigate the matter immediately after we received information about a possible paper leak on February 26," said Dr Ravindra Shisve, joint commissioner of Pune city police.

"The people arrested have been taken into custody including some retired army personnel and some of them are running pre-military training centres. We are investigating how the paper reached these people and who else was involved," he added.

( With inputs from ANI )