Of the 134 candidates meant to benefit from the Navy recruitment test paper leak busted by the CBI,90 per cent did not know what they were getting involved in,investigating officers say. Touts had allegedly negotiated with candidates parents while the candidates themselves were tutored without being told they were working on questions from a leaked paper. The CBI on Sunday had arrested four men for allegedly leaking the paper of the recruitment examination for lower division clerks. R C Naik and D S Murthi are administrative officers in Western and Eastern Naval Commands,Rambhir Singh Rawat is a former sailor who owns the Manasa International Defence Recruitment Agency in Vishakapatnam,and Hoshiyar Singh is a teacher in Hyderabad. The racketeers ensured the candidates were kept in dark as much as possible. They had touts in candidates hometowns and these contacted candidates parents, said an officer. Most of the candidates were shocked to know they were involved in such a big racket, he said,adding the CBI has not made any of them an accused in the case. We need witnesses. Our case will just get difficult if all are included as accused, the officer. Naik allegedly got copies of the question paper from a Pune press,put the questions into a pen drive and gave it to Rawat. CBI counsel Suresh Badami told a special court today. The role of other examination board members is yet to be ascertained. After admit cards had been issued,Rawat allegedly got hold of the candidate list and mobilised touts locally. Most from the 134 candidates are from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Their parents were approached and a bribe between Rs 15,000 and Rs 50,000 was decided. Hoshiar Singh was then introduced to the candidates and he brought them to Mumbai,put them up at United Lodge in South Mumbai,and tutored them as if it were part of a course,with detailed practice on each question, the officer said. We are recording the statements of the candidates. We need to take the four arrested to Vishakapatnam,Pune,Delhi and Haryana for further investigations, the officer said.
