Government orders CBI enquiry into SSC exam paper leak

The government today said it had given orders for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the alleged SSC Exam scam and that protesting aspirants must now end their protests.

"We have accepted demands of protesting candidates and have given orders for CBI inquiry, protest should now stop," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said.

A protesting student, meanwhile, said that while the students welcomed the home minister's decision on a CBI probe into the alleged scam, they would not call off the protests until a proper format was released and until they saw their demands being met.
 

The developments come a day after the SSC, which conducts the examination, recommended a CBI investigation into the alleged paper leaks in one of its tests held on February 21.

SSC chairman Ashim Khurana had said in a statement that a delegation of candidates, who were protesting against the alleged paper leaks, met him along with Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Manoj Tiwari and handed over a memorandum, following which the CBI probe was recommended.

"The commission agreed to recommend to the Department of Personnel and Training to request the government to conduct a CBI enquiry into the allegations of leaking of question papers of Paper-I on February 21, and other related issues," the statement read.

Students have taken to the streets of Delhi since last Tuesday protesting in thousands against what they term as "mass cheating".

Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare met the protesting candidates in Delhi on Sunday.

The SSC exams leak pertains to the alleged leak of questions of the Combined Graduate Level (Tier-II) Examination 2017 held from February 17 to 22. Screenshots of the question paper of the exam along with answers
were found circulating on social media.

The SSC had cancelled the exam that was slated to be held on February 21, 2018. The commission later said that this exam will be re-conducted on March 9, 2018.