Chhattisgarh recruitment rip-off: CBI claims CGPSC ex-chief shared query papers with nephews
RAIPUR: The CBI has claimed that Chhattisgarh Public Service Fee ex-chairman Taman Singh Sonwani tweaked tips and shared the CGPSC-2021 examination query papers together with his two nephews prematurely, facilitating their choice to the state providers. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on January 16 filed its first chargesheet within the alleged CGPSC rip-off, which got here to gentle throughout the earlier Congress regime, earlier than a particular court docket in Raipur, naming Sonwani and 6 others.
The opposite accused individuals are Sonwani’s nephews Nitesh Sonwani and Sahil Sonwani, then CGPSC deputy controller examination Lalit Ganvir, director of Shri Bajrang Energy and Ispat Ltd Shravan Kumar Goyal, his son Shashank Goyal and daughter-in-law Bhumika Katiyar. All seven have been arrested.
The central company in April final yr took over the probe into two instances registered within the state over alleged favouritism within the collection of deputy collectors, deputy superintendents of police and different senior authorities posts via CGPSC exams throughout the 2020-2022 interval.
As per the CBI chargesheet, Taman Singh Sonwani in a gathering dated July 14, 2021, changed the phrase ‘relative’ with ‘household’ within the tips and modified the definition of ‘household’ to exclude the phrase ‘nephew’ to assist his nephews who have been to take the CGPSC 2021 examination.
As per the examination tips, if any shut relative or member of the family of the chairman and members of CGPSC take the examination, the functionaries would maintain themselves away from the choice course of.
On November 16, 2021, the commercial for the CGPSC 2021 examination was revealed to replenish 171 posts in numerous classes. The recruitment physique obtained purposes from 1,29,206 candidates.
That yr, Arun Diwedi of M/s AKD Printers Pvt. Ltd, which was contracted to set the query papers and do the moderation of query papers, was instructed by Arti Wasnik, the then controller of examination of the hiring physique to arrange two query papers for the prelims of the CGPSC State Civil Companies Examination, the chargesheet mentioned.
AKD Printers ready the ultimate drafts of each query papers and despatched them in a sealed envelope to Wasnik for overview. These have been despatched via a particular messenger of the agency, Mahesh Das, in January 2022, based on the CBI.
Later, Das collected a sealed envelope from the Wasnik’s residence, the place one other individual, later recognized as Taman Singh Sonwani, was current. Das proceeded to Kolkata and handed on the envelope, containing the query papers for CGPSC 2021 prelims, duly authorized by Wasnik in session with Sonwani, to Diwedi, the chargesheet mentioned.
Citing its probe, CBI claimed that Wasnik and Sonwani knew the questions that have been speculated to be requested within the examination, which was scheduled on February 13, 2022, it mentioned.
An analogous technique was adopted for the mains examination held between Could 26 and 29, 2022. The outcomes of mains examination have been declared on August 22, 2022, whereby 509 candidates certified.
After interviews, the ultimate end result was declared on Could 11, 2023, displaying the collection of 170 candidates for various posts. Shashank Goyal, his spouse Bhumika Katiyar and Nitesh have been chosen as deputy collectors, whereas Sahil bought the put up of deputy superintendent of police (DSP).
The CBI chargesheet alleges that Taman Singh Sonwani “misused” his official place and shared the query papers together with his nephews Nitesh and Sahil earlier than the exams. Additional, Sonwani and Ganvir colluded with Shravan Kumar Goyal, a whole-time director of Shri Bajrang Energy and Ispat Ltd, to ship the query papers to his son Shashank and daughter-in-law Bhumika.
The chargesheet mentioned a non-government organisation (NGO) named Gramin Vikas Samiti (GVS) managed by Sonwani’s household collected Rs 45 lakh from Goyal’s agency as kickbacks over the sharing of the query papers.
The central company mentioned that GVS-Jeejamgaon, whereby Sonwani was a member and Ganvir was the treasurer, sought Rs 50 lakh from Bajrang Energy and Ispat underneath Company Social Duty (CSR) for “development/extension of a Kala Mahavidhyalaya (faculty)” operated by the NGO.
Shravan Kumar Goyal, a member of the CSR committee of the agency, misguided the opposite members and bought suggestions for sanctioning Rs 20 lakh and Rs 25 lakh (in two installments) to GVS. The cash was transferred to the checking account of GVS on March 2, 2022, and Could 18, 2022, it mentioned.
The CBI has claimed that Goyal was properly conscious that CSR funds couldn’t be launched for the development/extension of a school as this was not included within the actions talked about in Schedule VII, Part 135, of the Corporations Act, 2013.
The CBI chargesheet additionally mentioned that the investigation regarding a couple of allegations in FIR is pending, together with the probe into the collection of different candidates as deputy collectors and different posts following the CGPSC 2021 examination, Wasnik’s position, alleged malpractices within the recruitment of assistant professor (one of many allegations within the FIR apart from CGPSC 2021 examination).
