The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
CBI launches probe into Odisha postal recruitment ‘fraud’, searches 67 places
THE CENTRAL Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Thursday launched a major investigation into allegations of certificate forgery in Gramin Dak Sevak postal recruitment exams held in Odisha last year. The agency conducted searches at over 67 locations across various districts in the state.
According to sources in the agency, 63 candidates and some unknown officials of the postal department have been booked.
The case pertains to the postal recruitment exam of last year, when officials found that 63 candidates from various postal divisions — including Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Kalahandi, and Brahmapur — had submitted forged Class 10 certificates and marksheets.
The raids came a year after the CBI registered a case under various IPC sections.
The case was registered on the back of a complaint by the director of postal services, Bhubaneswar.
In a statement it issued, the CBI said over 204 officials — including 122 officers of its own and 82 from other departments — were involved in the raids considering the “scale and seriousness” of the investigation. Search teams are “striving” to uncover the interstate organised gang responsible for providing these fake certificates, the statement said. The recruitment in question was conducted to fill up 1,381 posts of Gramin Dak Sevak (GDS), for which online applications were invited on January 27, 2023. The minimum qualification required was a Class 10 . Selection was automated and based on the marks secured in Class 10.
Selected candidates were informed via text and email and were asked to report to the verifying authority within 15 days for document verification.
It was during this process that officials found that several candidates had submitted forged certificates. “These certificates were allegedly issued by the Board of High School and Intermediate Education, Allahabad; West Bengal Board, Kolkata; Jharkhand Academic Council, Ranchi; among others. The complaint suggests alleged involvement of an interstate racket in creating and supplying these forged certificates in collusion with the candidates,” the CBI statement said Thursday.
According to official sources, while most candidates claimed to have secured 98 to 99 percent marks in matriculation, many struggled with simple English, prompting the postal department to lodge a complaint with the police.