Naval commander arrested in recruitment paper leak case

A commander with INS Angre and chairperson of Western Naval Commands Naval Recruitment Board.

A commander with INS Angre and chairperson of Western Naval Commands Naval Recruitment Board,Ramesh C Saini,became the fifth person to be arrested for criminal conspiracy in the Naval recruitment examination paper leak. The CBI arrested Saini on Tuesday evening and the special CBI court remanded him in custody till October 13.

On September 26,the agency had in two separate raids on two lodges in south Mumbai,arrested four persons including two administrative officers with Naval Recruitment Board,a coaching class and recruitment agency owner and a teacher after they were found to have allegedly conspired and leaked the examination paper for the post of the Lower Division Clerks. Over 135 applicants were found in various rooms in one of the lodges,with the leaked question paper allegedly given to them by the four arrested,including RC Naik and his batchmate D S Murthi,administrative officers of Western and Eastern Naval Command respectively,Rambhir Singh Rawat,former sailor and owner of Manasa International Defence recruitment agency in Vishakapatnam,and Haryana-based teacher Hoshiyar Singh.

Saini had left with Naik on September 16 for Atharva Consultancy & Allied Services in Pune where the papers were to be printed.

According to a Navy spokesperson,two officials from the board are required to be present during the period when the paper is being printed. Atharva printing press,owned by Vilas Thakur,was an approved agency by the Naval Recruitment Board for printing the examination papers.

The preliminary probe has found that Saini and Naik stayed in a hotel called Kohinoor. The entire rent of Rs 14,000 for the period of their stay was paid by the printing press owner. Naik is alleged to have asked for a copy of the paper for one of his relatives who was appearing for the same exam. The torn page of a hard copy,which was sneaked out by Naik,was found in his house in Kharghar, said DIG Praveen Salunkhe. The CBI,while seeking Sainis custody,told the court that involvement of other persons needs to be probed.

During investigations it has also been learnt that the question papers of an exam held on August 20 and 22 in the Eastern Naval Command were also leaked by Rawat. We need to find out the source, the CBI said.

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Naval commander arrested in recruitment paper leak case

A commander with INS Angre and chairperson of Western Naval Commands Naval Recruitment Board.

A commander with INS Angre and chairperson of Western Naval Commands Naval Recruitment Board.