Five Assistant Sub-Inspectors of Police (ASI) trainees who were on the verge of completing their course in the Recruit Training Centre of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at Arakkonam (Vellore district) in Tamil Nadu were arrested on charges of impersonation, police sources said on Monday.
The five trainees, all natives of Haryana, had resorted to impersonation in the written examination held last year. However, they appeared in person for the physical and medical test and got selected.
Eight months after they completed training, the suspicion of impersonation surfaced since the signatures/fingerprints of those who appeared in the written examination did not match with the ones who took the physical/medical test. The CISF has the practice of obtaining the signature and fingerprint of candidates appearing for recruitment at the time of written examination, physical and medical test, the sources said.
On enquiry, Praveen Kumar, Sandeep Kumar, Narendar Janghu, Sachin Kumar and Satish confessed to having got their friends to write the CISF’s written examination on their behalf. Investigation is on to identify those who appeared in the written examination for the trainees. It was not clear how the accused managed photographs in the hall tickets, the sources said.
“We observed a variation in the handwriting of the trainees and their signatures. The issue was referred to the CISF headquarters for forensic examination. On confirmation of variation, the scripts were sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Shimla, which again confirmed the mismatch,” Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Recruit Training centre, K.C. Suresh Kumar, told The Hindu.
He said the fingerprints of the persons who appeared for the written examination and those of the five ASI trainees were sent to the forensic laboratory in Vellore. “The results indicated a clear variation. We have scientific evidence to prove that the trainees had resorted to impersonation. We have issued termination notices and handed over the trainees to police for appropriate action,” Mr. Kumar said.
A case of cheating and impersonation was registered. The Crime Branch CID would investigate the matter as more persons could be involved in the racket.
The CISF is an armed force of the union which guards vital installations, including airports, nuclear and space establishments in the country. It also provides security cover for VVIPs. This is the third case in the Recruit Training Centre, Arakkonam, where candidates with fake appointment orders or other fraud were detected, police sources added.
