Army recruitment scam: CBI books 40

Lucknow: The CBI has registered a case against 40 persons , found guilty in irregularities related to the appointment of 34 ineligible candidates in an Army recruitment drive in 2016-17.

In the FIR, the CBI has named 40 persons, including candidates and unidentified middlemen, and has accused them of using forged documents during the selection process.

The tip-off came from Special Task Force as the agency was constantly watching activities of one of the touts involved in the scam. The CBI named 11 more persons in the FIR registered under relevant sections of the IPC apart from pressing Prevention of Corruption Act and IT Act. The accused include a havaldar posted at headquarters recruiting zone in Lucknow. According to CBI sources, all the 34 ca-ndidates had joined training in the Army, but were later found ineligible.

The candidates were sel-ected for the posts of soldiers for technical, general, sentry, clerical and medical duty, the FIR said.

The group of 34 under the lens had appeared for recruitment rally organized in Hamirpur in August 2016. Though all the 34 had finished school from various parts of west UP, they showed themselves as residents of Hamirpur.

Though the candidates with help of touts and middlemen had prepared forged domicile certificates by showing themselves as residents of Kurra, a town in Hami-rpur district, the website created by board of reve-nue to cross check authe-nticity of such docume-nts, also gave affirmative results dubbing the documents at genuine one.