The role of the Sonipat district administration has come under the scanner in the HTET examination paper leak case after it was claimed by an arrested accused that the question papers were dispatched without any policemen accompanying the package.
According to SP Abhishek Jorwal, the in-charge of the exam centre from where the question paper was allegedly leaked, one Rajendra Randhawa, told them that the packet containing the question papers had already been opened when he received it.
The Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test (HTET) Level 3 (PGT) examination was cancelled on November 14 upon suspicions of paper leak.
Also Read
Jorwal said that four persons -- two representatives from the district collector's office and the education board and two police personnel -- are mandated to bear question papers from the treasury to the examination centre.
However, Randhawa, who was arrested on December 20, told police that two persons -- Pavitra Guliya, the official from the district collector's office, and Surendra Kumar, the representative from the education board -- had opened the package and removed a question paper.
Randhawa, who was placed in five days' police remand, was today presented in a local court in Jind which sent him to judicial remand.
Randhawa has further claimed that he had wanted to turn himself in much earlier but was dissuaded from doing so by Guliya and the legal adviser to the Sonipat district education office, Rajiv Dahiya. He also alleged that Guliya and Dahiya had even broken his phone a few days back.
Jorwal said that police would be able to verify Randhawa's claims only after arresting Guliya.
Randhawa was the HTET examination centre head at Indian Model Senior Secondary School in Sonipat.
He is alleged to have provided the question paper before the exam started to some persons who, after finding the answers, gave it another accused who in turn, along with a friend of his, posted the same on a WhatsApp group -- Chandni Chowk -- which had 55 candidates as members.
According to police, these members were getting the question paper in return for a payment of Rs 2 lakh each.
