DEHRADUN: A former cook, bus conductor, auto-rickshaw driver, factory worker, and a current school teacher have emerged as key members of a team that pulled off one of the biggest scandals that rocked Uttarakhand , which is worth around Rs 200 crore. – Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UKSSSC) paper leak.
The spread of corruption has led many to compare it with the ‘Vyapam’ incident. Madhya Pradesh of 2013, probably one of the biggest entrance exam scams to hit the country.
The authorities have till Friday arrested 32 people in the case in which the leaked papers are being sold to over 200 candidates for Rs 10-15 lakh. A copy of the paper was allegedly leaked by the owner and an employee of a techno-solutions private firm based in Lucknow, which was torn down by the government after the matter came to light.
The “mastermind” of the scam has been identified as Hakam Singh, his close aide and UP-based fraud mafia member Kendrapal. Chandan Manarali, Manoj Joshiand Jagdish Goswami. Most of them allegedly created assets worth at least Rs 50 crore with wrongfully acquired assets. They were reportedly in this business for the last 10 years.
Hakam, one of the main accused, hails from Uttarkashi district and was the 18th person arrested by the STF on August 14. He was earlier a member of Uttarkashi district panchayat and a leader of the ruling BJP. party after arrest
An STF official associated with the investigation said that Hakam was the cook of the former district magistrate (DM) of Uttarkashi in 2002. During his tenure, he became the DM’s “close-circle employee”, taking him to Haridwar district, where he was later posted.
“He met some politicians and slowly entered politics by staying in Haridwar. Before becoming a member of Uttarkashi Zilla Panchayat, Hakam was the headman of Liwari village in Uttarkashi from 2008-2013. While in the holy city, he met the UP-based fraud mafia and Kendrapal, one of the arrested accused, in 2011. With his help, he started leaking question papers of various competitive exams to candidates for hefty sums, with which he built up assets worth crores,” the official said.
It was Hakam who rented a house in UP’s Dhampur, where he allegedly brought UKSSSC aspirants a day before the exam and helped them solve the leaked question paper for Rs 15 lakh.
Like him, an alleged member of the UP-based fraud mafia, Kendrapal wrote the money story by leaking papers to candidates appearing in various examinations in Uttarakhand as well as in UP. A resident of Dhampur in UP, he was the 24th person arrested by the STF from Bijnor on August 26.
According to an STF official on condition of anonymity, it was the Kendrapal who had involved Hakam in the fraud mafia in 2011 after he was produced in Haridwar through a labor contractor.
Kendrapal started his journey in 1996 as an auto-rickshaw driver. He then worked in a readymade garment shop in Dhampur and later started his own cloth supply business in 2011 before allegedly joining the mafia.
The probe agency has come to know about some of his properties till date including a partnership in a resort with Hakam in Uttarkashi as well as 3.3 acres of land in Dhampur and a luxurious mansion.
The Kendrapal allegedly included another arrested accused, Chandan Manral, whom he had met in 2012.
Manral, a resident of Ramnagar in Nainital district, was the 21st person arrested by the STF on August 20. He is said to be the biggest asset maker among all the above accused. Their worth was at least Rs 100 crore.
Manral started his journey as a bus conductor on the Betalghat-Ramnagar route about 30 years ago. He then bought his own bus collecting money from his friends and relatives and started a transport agency in the Kumaon region before adding 19 more buses in subsequent years.
After meeting Kendrapal for allegedly joining the fraud mafia, his wealth increased manifold and he started a stone crusher plant spread over an area of about 25 acres. He had leased around 30 multi-utility vehicles to various government departments through his transport agency.
The Kendrapal allegedly arrested another person in 2019 after meeting arrested accused Jagdish Goswami at a temple in Uttarakhand.
Goswami, a resident of Almora, was the 22nd person arrested in the case on August 21. At the time of his arrest, he was working as a teacher in a government school in Bageshwar district.
He is the son of one of the most famous folk singers of Uttarakhand, Gopal Babu GoswamiWho worked in Bollywood films like Kareena Kapoor-starrer ‘Jab We Met’.
He is accused of collecting examinees from his area and taking them to a rented house in Dhampur to help them solve the leaked question papers.
Another accused in the case is Manoj Joshi, a resident of Almora district, who was reportedly among the six people arrested by the STF in the case on July 24. Joshi was a former employee of the Prant Rakshak Dal (PRD). UKSSSC in Dehradun before it was terminated in 2018 due to “departmental discrepancies”.
Joshi worked in a factory in Lucknow for 12 years before joining PRD and being posted in UKSSSC.
STF officials said Joshi helped five members of their family get government jobs from the leaked question papers of arrested accused employees of a Lucknow-based tech-solution private firm.
SSP STF Ajay Singh, who is heading the ongoing probe, confirmed the properties of the accused and said that the agency had already informed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for investigation.
“They asked for the details of the case, which we have provided to them. They will dig up more information. In the meantime, we will also register a case against the accused under the Gangster Act and attach the properties created by them with the money earned by committing this crime.”
The spread of corruption has led many to compare it with the ‘Vyapam’ incident. Madhya Pradesh of 2013, probably one of the biggest entrance exam scams to hit the country.
The authorities have till Friday arrested 32 people in the case in which the leaked papers are being sold to over 200 candidates for Rs 10-15 lakh. A copy of the paper was allegedly leaked by the owner and an employee of a techno-solutions private firm based in Lucknow, which was torn down by the government after the matter came to light.
The “mastermind” of the scam has been identified as Hakam Singh, his close aide and UP-based fraud mafia member Kendrapal. Chandan Manarali, Manoj Joshiand Jagdish Goswami. Most of them allegedly created assets worth at least Rs 50 crore with wrongfully acquired assets. They were reportedly in this business for the last 10 years.
Hakam, one of the main accused, hails from Uttarkashi district and was the 18th person arrested by the STF on August 14. He was earlier a member of Uttarkashi district panchayat and a leader of the ruling BJP. party after arrest
An STF official associated with the investigation said that Hakam was the cook of the former district magistrate (DM) of Uttarkashi in 2002. During his tenure, he became the DM’s “close-circle employee”, taking him to Haridwar district, where he was later posted.
“He met some politicians and slowly entered politics by staying in Haridwar. Before becoming a member of Uttarkashi Zilla Panchayat, Hakam was the headman of Liwari village in Uttarkashi from 2008-2013. While in the holy city, he met the UP-based fraud mafia and Kendrapal, one of the arrested accused, in 2011. With his help, he started leaking question papers of various competitive exams to candidates for hefty sums, with which he built up assets worth crores,” the official said.
It was Hakam who rented a house in UP’s Dhampur, where he allegedly brought UKSSSC aspirants a day before the exam and helped them solve the leaked question paper for Rs 15 lakh.
Like him, an alleged member of the UP-based fraud mafia, Kendrapal wrote the money story by leaking papers to candidates appearing in various examinations in Uttarakhand as well as in UP. A resident of Dhampur in UP, he was the 24th person arrested by the STF from Bijnor on August 26.
According to an STF official on condition of anonymity, it was the Kendrapal who had involved Hakam in the fraud mafia in 2011 after he was produced in Haridwar through a labor contractor.
Kendrapal started his journey in 1996 as an auto-rickshaw driver. He then worked in a readymade garment shop in Dhampur and later started his own cloth supply business in 2011 before allegedly joining the mafia.
The probe agency has come to know about some of his properties till date including a partnership in a resort with Hakam in Uttarkashi as well as 3.3 acres of land in Dhampur and a luxurious mansion.
The Kendrapal allegedly included another arrested accused, Chandan Manral, whom he had met in 2012.
Manral, a resident of Ramnagar in Nainital district, was the 21st person arrested by the STF on August 20. He is said to be the biggest asset maker among all the above accused. Their worth was at least Rs 100 crore.
Manral started his journey as a bus conductor on the Betalghat-Ramnagar route about 30 years ago. He then bought his own bus collecting money from his friends and relatives and started a transport agency in the Kumaon region before adding 19 more buses in subsequent years.
After meeting Kendrapal for allegedly joining the fraud mafia, his wealth increased manifold and he started a stone crusher plant spread over an area of about 25 acres. He had leased around 30 multi-utility vehicles to various government departments through his transport agency.
The Kendrapal allegedly arrested another person in 2019 after meeting arrested accused Jagdish Goswami at a temple in Uttarakhand.
Goswami, a resident of Almora, was the 22nd person arrested in the case on August 21. At the time of his arrest, he was working as a teacher in a government school in Bageshwar district.
He is the son of one of the most famous folk singers of Uttarakhand, Gopal Babu GoswamiWho worked in Bollywood films like Kareena Kapoor-starrer ‘Jab We Met’.
He is accused of collecting examinees from his area and taking them to a rented house in Dhampur to help them solve the leaked question papers.
Another accused in the case is Manoj Joshi, a resident of Almora district, who was reportedly among the six people arrested by the STF in the case on July 24. Joshi was a former employee of the Prant Rakshak Dal (PRD). UKSSSC in Dehradun before it was terminated in 2018 due to “departmental discrepancies”.
Joshi worked in a factory in Lucknow for 12 years before joining PRD and being posted in UKSSSC.
STF officials said Joshi helped five members of their family get government jobs from the leaked question papers of arrested accused employees of a Lucknow-based tech-solution private firm.
SSP STF Ajay Singh, who is heading the ongoing probe, confirmed the properties of the accused and said that the agency had already informed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for investigation.
“They asked for the details of the case, which we have provided to them. They will dig up more information. In the meantime, we will also register a case against the accused under the Gangster Act and attach the properties created by them with the money earned by committing this crime.”