Lucknow:
The question paper of Uttar Pradesh Provincial Civil Services (PCS) preliminary examination was today leaked just before the start of the examination, leaving lakhs of aspirants high and dry.
“Any decision to cancel the paper will be taken only by the UP Public Service Commission (UPPSC). The government is awaiting report on the entire matter,” an official spokesman told PTI tonight.
Top UPPSC officials met at the commission’s headquarters in Allahabad but there was no official word on whether any decision was taken on cancellation of the examination.
The news of the paper leak spread like wildfire while the first shift of the Preliminary exams, held between 9.30 AM and 11.30 AM, was underway.
“The paper was leaked at about 9.15 AM on WhatsApp messenger before start of the examination. It has matched with the original paper of PCS preliminary. We have informed the chief minister and chief secretary in this regard,” Director General of Police (DGP) A K Jain told reporters.
He said police has got initial leads in the case.
“STF teams are working on it and we will soon work out the paper leak,” Jain said.
He said necessary steps were being taken to get the paper canceled.
Meanwhile, police sources said the STF has picked up three persons for questioning in connection with the paper leak.
Around 4.5 lakh candidates appeared in 917 centres across the state, including 70,000 candidates in Lucknow who took the test in 148 centres.
Media reports claimed the question paper was being sold at Rs 5 lakh, while some said it was available at paan shops in certain areas.
As the news of the paper leak spread, students staged massive protests outside the Public Service Commission office in Aliganj here.
Similar protests were witnessed in Allahabad with hundreds of youths gathering in front of the UP Public Service Commission there, setting fire to an effigy of the panel’s Chairman Anil Yadav and demanded his immediate removal. Several candidates and their guardians also protested in Kanpur.
District Magistrate, Lucknow, Rajshekhar said the examination was held as per schedule in both the shifts.
“The paper in the second shift was held as per schedule just like the first shift. As far as paper leakage is concerned, STF is probing the matter,” he said.
The matter prompted opposition parties to demand CBI probe and dismissal UPPSC head, who has been in the eye of a storm since 2013 when a controversial reservation policy was introduced by the UPPSC, introducing caste-based reservations at the preliminary stage itself.
The policy was scrapped following violent agitations in the city and petitions in the Allahabad High Court even as the embarrassed Samajwadi Party government claimed that the UPPSC had acted without taking the government’s approval.
