A question paper of the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Civil Services (UPPCS) preliminary examination was leaked on Sunday morning, forcing the State government to cancel Sunday’s examination. The police have launched a probe and nabbed at least two suspects. Official sources said the cancelled examination would be held soon.
“The [general studies] paper was leaked at about 9.15 a.m. on “WhatsApp” before start of the examination...It matched the original paper of the PCS preliminary exam. We have informed the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary in this regard. STF teams are probing the case,” Director-General of Police (DGP) A.K. Jain told journalists here.
The PCS preliminary examination was scheduled in two shifts. But soon after the first shift began at 9.30 a.m., reports of leak came in with the question paper allegedly being sold for Rs.5 lakh.
The exam being taken by over four lakh PCS aspirants had to be cancelled in over 900 centres across the State. This led to unrest, with examinees protesting outside several centres in many cities, including Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi and Kanpur.
Meanwhile, the major Opposition parties have demanded a CBI investigation.
“The leakage of PCS paper is not a trivial incident as the fate of thousands of students depended on it ... The paper leak should be probed by the CBI. UPPSC Chairman Anil Yadav should be immediately dismissed as he had been involved in anomalies in the PCS exam last year too,” said U.P. BJP spokesperson Manoj Mishra. Demanding a thorough probe, Congress leader Akhilesh Pratap Singh said: “Those involved in it should be brought to book and the entire process of examinations made foolproof.”
