Ranchi, 4 August

Job aspirants, who have been protesting the alleged paper leaks in the Jharkhand PSC examination and other recruitment tests for the last week, on Tuesday demanded an inquiry by an independent panel of retired high court judges from outside the state.

The protesters, who have been staging an indefinite sit-in at Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium here since July 29, alleged that the JMM-led government was attempting to "whitewash" the issue by entrusting the investigation to the CID.

They had earlier demanded an investigation by the CBI along with that of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), claiming large-scale financial transactions were linked to the alleged recruitment scam.

"We have completely lost faith in the ongoing CID investigation. Earlier, the government got the JSSC-CGL paper leak probed by the CID. The agency itself found that answers to 135 of the 150 questions had been leaked and 120 questions matched the examination paper exactly," Vinay Mehta, an aspirant from Hazaribag district, told PTI.

He alleged that despite candidates sharing documentary evidence through emails and WhatsApp, the authorities neither acknowledged nor acted on the complaints.

"Therefore, we demand that the investigation be handed over either to the CBI or to an independent body of retired High Court judges, excluding any judge from Jharkhand," Mehta said.

The protesters said they will also pay tribute to former chief minister Shibu Soren on his first death anniversary.

"Dishom Guru Shibu Soren is our source of inspiration. We will march to his residence today to pay homage to him," said Pawan Goswami from Palamu district.

He warned that while the agitation would remain peaceful for now, the students would intensify it if the government continued to ignore their demands.

"If our demands are not met, we will gherao the assembly on August 10," Goswami said.

The agitation has drawn support from several organisations over the past few days.

On Monday, the state unit of the AISA staged a demonstration at Albert Ekka Chowk here over the alleged recruitment scams and announced an assembly march on August 7. AISA president Neha Bora is expected to participate in the programme.

On Sunday, the Cockroach Janta Party extended support to the protesters, with its founder Abhijeet Dipke interacting with leaders of the movement through a video call.

Devendra Nath Mahto, one of the leaders of the agitation, has been on an indefinite hunger strike at the protest site since Sunday night, demanding a probe by central agencies into the alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations.

Meanwhile, JMM MLA Kalpana Soren, the wife of the CM Hemant Soren, said the state government was "very sensitive" towards the issues raised by the protesters.

"The state government is working out ways to resolve their issues," she told reporters.

Leader of the Opposition Babulal Marandi said job aspirants have long been struggling for their legitimate right to a fair and equal chance in competitive exams.

"The current issue is not limited only to paper leaks in various state-level public examinations, it is a matter of selling public jobs by the state government," he alleged.

Demanding a CBI probe, Marandi said the outcome of the CID investigation into the JSSC-CGL examination paper leak is known to everybody.

"JSSC issued cut-off marks in February on the direction of the high court. Then it came to light that the candidates who were selected had lower marks than those who were not selected. This showed clear malpractices and irregularities," he said, claiming that this is exactly what has happened in the 14th JPSC and the Excise Constable recruitment examination.

"Therefore, the state government is trying to cover up the case under the pretext of the ongoing CID probe," he alleged.