The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer for allegedly clearing the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination under an assumed identity and joining the service based on forged educational certificates, as he had overshot the upper age limit.
The accused, Naveet Kumar alias Rajesh Kumar Sharma, is currently a Deputy Commissioner with the CGST & Central Excise in the East Zone of Kolkata. He belongs to West Champaran in Bihar.
The FIR has been registered by the CBI on the basis of a complaint received from the Directorate General of Vigilance on October 17, 2017. The complaint was forwarded to the agency's Patna unit for verification.
Initial probe revealed that Mr. Kumar, son of Jay Narayan Sharma, got selected through the UPSC examination, conducted in 2007.
The accused submitted papers showing that he had cleared Class X from Bihar Vidyalaya Pariksha Samiti in 1996, intermediate from the same board in 2003 and BA (Hons) in 2008 from Baba Saheb Ambedkar Bihar University in Muzaffarpur. The date of birth was mentioned as June 15, 1980.
However, the CBI found that there was one Rajesh Kumar Sharma, son of Jay Narayan Sharma, with the same residential address. Rajesh had studied at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (Bettiah), passed Class X in 1991 and Class XII in 1993 through the Central Board of Secondary Education.
“It is alleged that when Rajesh got over-aged for the UPSC examination, he changed identity and obtained certificate in the name of Navneet Kumar, keeping his father's name and address the same,” said the agency.
The certificates issued by the Deputy Electoral Officer of West Champaran, Bettiah and statements of the village chief and other residents also suggested that Rajesh had changed his name. Mr. Navneet Kumar had submitted a provisional graduation certificate dated December 17, 2008, indicating that he had taken the examination in December 2007.
According to the UPSC notice for 2007 examination, the minimum educational qualification was a degree from a recognised university and the candidates who had qualified for the mains paper were required to produce proof of having graduated. The application for the main examination had to be submitted in October-November 2007.
The CBI also found that the accused had not submitted date-of-birth and intermediate certificates to the department. “....Bihar Vidyalaya Pariksha Samiti has not cooperated in providing the required details of Navneet Kumar,” says the FIR.
