Seven remanded in job exam question leak case

A Dhaka court on Sunday placed seven arrestees on a two-day remand each in a case filed over their alleged involvement in a syndicate responsible for leaking question papers for government recruitment examinations.

The accused are Md Mofizul Islam, 27, Md Rubel Islam, 33, Md Hasinur Rahman alias Sujon, 32, Asadul Islam, 31, SM Emdadul Rahman, 35, Md Jahangir Alam, 38, and Nur Mohammad, 30.

Of them, Rubel, Emdadul, Asadul, Nur Mohammad and Jahangir are employees of different government offices, while the other two are job seekers, sources said.

Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jashita Islam passed the order after a hearing, said state prosecutor Kawsar Ahmed.

Earlier, Md Mohaiminul Islam, additional superintendent of police at the Criminal Investigation Department’s (CID) Cyber Police Centre and the investigation officer in the case, sought seven days of remand for each accused.

On 16 October, the Special Response Battalion (SRB) announced the arrest of the seven people over the leaking of question papers for the recruitment examination for assistant youth development officer posts under the Department of Youth Development.

During the arrests, a large number of cheque books, stamp papers, national identity cards and academic certificates were seized from their possession.

According to police, the accused were active members of a syndicate involved in leaking question papers for various government recruitment examinations.

They allegedly collected large sums of money from job seekers in cash and through cheques in exchange for supplying question papers before examinations and helping candidates memorise the answers.

The police remand petition stated that information had emerged suggesting the involvement of several other people, including government and private-sector officials and employees, as well as students, in the syndicate.

Initial questioning of the accused had also revealed their direct involvement in the incidents under investigation, the petition said, adding that they needed to be interrogated intensively to gather further evidence and identify and arrest other members of the syndicate.

The preliminary examination for 242 vacant assistant youth development officer posts under the Department of Youth Development was scheduled to be held on October 10. A total of 3.19 lakh job seekers had applied for the posts.

The examination was scheduled to begin at 11:00am, but the authorities suspended it after confirming the question paper leak at 10:03am that day.

A case was filed with Motijheel Police Station on 11 October after which the SRB launched an investigation into the incident.