'Munnabhai' helps jailed youth to pass exam and get job as SI in UP police

The claims of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath about transparent recruiting in the government sector were exposed when a youth was appointed as Sub-Inspector in Uttar Pradesh police while he was lodged in jail. He not only cleared the written test but also physical and medical tests through a solver.

The issue was raised in social media and in no time the post went viral raising questions over transparency in recruitment. In a knee-jerk reaction, the UP Police Recruitment and Promotion Board, which recruits Sub-Inspectors, ordered an inquiry into the matter and also removed his name from the selection list.

Chairman of the Board, Raj Kumar Vishwakarma said that the information about the arrest of the candidate was not given to the recruitment board because of which his name appeared on the selection list.

But, he is silent over the questions as to how the accused, Arjun, passed the written and other tests when he was in the jail.

In 2021, Arjun Prasad a resident of Ballia, who belonged to SC category, applied for the post of SI and passed the examination. He was in jail when the recruitment process was carried out. He was arrested on the charges of fraud.

During probe, it came to light that Arjun made a deal with one Rahul of Kanpur for seven lakh rupees for his selection. Rahul employed a solver named Shishupal, a resident of Nalanda district of Bihar, to take the examination in place of Arjun.

The exam was held on November 16, 2021 at Cosmo Foundation Jankipuram Extension, Lucknow. The solver Shishupal took the exam in place of Arjun and passed the examination. Arjun was called to the police line Prayagraj on May 5 for verification of records. Here too, Shishupal, posing as Arjun got the documents checked without raising any suspicion.

Arjun was called for the physical test on May 19 at 37th Battalion PAC Kanpur. Here too, Shishupala arrived in place of Arjun and he also passed this test. The probe showed that Shishupal appeared in place of Arjun everywhere, and all the measures to check irregularities by taking services of sleuths of the Special Task Force and other government agencies failed to check him.

On June 12, when the recruitment board released the final selection list, Arjun's name was also included in the ST quota for the post of police sub-inspector. When Arjun was called for training, it was found that he was lodged in Kanpur jail in the same recruitment fraud after which the Recruitment Board was alerted and his name was removed and a probe was ordered.