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Delhi

Police to probe UPSC paper leaks

With the arrest of UPSC member Chhatar Singh’s Personal Assistant (PA) Vipan Kumar on Thursday for his alleged involvement in the second module cracked during the probe of the corporate espionage scandal, Delhi Police have extended its investigation to probable leak of UPSC question papers in the past.

Vipan was earlier an employee at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and served there as a
stenographer from 1996 to 2010. After that, he moved to the Union Public Service Commission.

Currently, Vipan is posted as PA to retired IAS officer from Haryana, Chhatar Singh, who was also the Principal Secretary to former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and became a UPSC member in 2013, said a police source.

According to the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Ravindra Yadav, Vipan allegedly procured secret documents himself as well as with the help of his contacts in the petroleum ministry and further sold them to energy consultancies.

He further said: “Till now Vipan has maintained that he had no contacts in UPSC, but the police are still doubtful about his role in probable UPSC paper leaks.”

A senior police official also informed that the police had been receiving inputs about UPSC paper leaks but there were no evidences to support them. So the probe has been extended and a series of raids need to be conducted, along with intensive interrogation of Vipan to ensure that no stone remains unturned.

The senior official further recalled a 2013 case in which, the accused – a lower division clerk, had cleared the UPSC’s written exam for the post of provident fund commissioner, held on September 23, 2012. During investigation, Crime Branch officers traced the e-mails through which the question papers were being sent to the office of the chief electoral officer in Delhi. It emerged that the accused was employed there and had access to the e-mails.

“This case raised the suspicion about a racket at UPSC and with the arrest of Vipan, this has to be probed. However, no documents from UPSC have been recovered so far,” said the senior official.
Vipan’s name emerged during the interrogation of energy consultant Lokesh Sharma, who headed a separate document leaking racket connected to the petroleum ministry espionage case.
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