Seven people, including five government employees, have been arrested in connection with the question paper leak of the recruitment examination for the post of Assistant Youth Development Officer under the Department of Youth Development.
Lieutenant Colonel Faizul Arefin, SRB-3 Commander, disclosed the information at a press conference at the SRB media centre in Karwan Bazar in the capital on Friday afternoon.
The arrestees were identified as Md Rubel Islam, 33, a data entry operator at the Department of Environment; job seekers Md Mofizul Islam, 23, and Md Hasinur Rahman Sujon, 32; SM Imdadul Islam, 35, a computer operator at the National Board of Revenue (NBR); Asadul Islam, 33, an office assistant at the Ministry of Defence; Noor Mohammad, 30, an office assistant at the NBR; and Jahangir, 38, an NBR computer operator.
A set of question papers, admit cards for various examinations, certificates, bank cheques, stamps and national identity cards were seized from the arrestees. Preliminary investigations suggest that candidates were charged Tk 8 lakh to Tk 10 lakh each for leaked questions, Arefin said.
However, the original source of the leaked question paper remains unidentified. The arrestees claimed to have obtained the questions through Facebook but failed to provide satisfactory information. An investigation is underway to identify the source and others involved in the incident.
The recruitment examination for 242 vacant posts was scheduled for October 10, with 319,000 job seekers applying. The examination was supposed to begin at 1.00am, but the authorities postponed it after confirming the question paper leak at 10:03am that day.
Following the incident, SRB launched a shadow investigation. Seven people were arrested in separate drives in different parts of the capital on October 14, 15 and 16. The Department of Youth Development filed a case with Motijheel Police Station on October 11.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Faizul Arefin, Rubel, Mofizul and Sujon were arrested in the Motijheel area on October 14. Based on information provided by them, Imdadul was arrested in the Uttarkhan area, while Asadul was arrested in Mirpur-10 with assistance from SRB-4.
After reviewing phone conversations and chats of the arrestees, SRB-4 arrested Noor Mohammad in Savar on October 15. Jahangir was later arrested in Mohammadpur on October 16 based on information and evidence obtained from Noor.
Lieutenant Colonel Faizul Arefin said identifying the person who initially supplied the question paper to Noor Mohammad was a key part of the investigation. Noor could not provide a satisfactory explanation when questioned about it.