At a time when the BJP-JJP led State Government is under severe criticism on paper-leak issue, another recruitment scandal has come to the fore in Haryana.

A person namely Jitender Singh, a resident of Ambala district has been arrested for allegedly issuing fake job interview letters to people for getting government jobs in Haryana. After being arrested by Chandigarh Police following an FIR lodged in Sector 3 Police Station in a case related to Haryana Vidhan Sabha Secretariat on October 26, the accused has been sent on eight days police remand.

Giving details of recruitment scandal, Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Gian Chand Gupta while talking to the mediapersons on Thursday said that the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat has managed to unearth a job scam. The accused, Jitender Singh has earned around Rs 75 lakh issuing fake job letters to 13 people till now, he said.

The Speaker said that applications were invited by Haryana Vidhan Sabha Secretariat for the posts of junior engineer, reporter Hindi and English, junior scale stenographer, clerk, telephone attendant, telephone operator, Hindi typist among other posts. A candidate named Neeraj, who is a relative of Jitender appeared for the interview for the post of English reporter and he was found to have a fake job interview letter. After investigation, he revealed the name of accused Jitender, who was running an office in Sector 34 here duping people and extorting money from them in the name of getting them jobs in Haryana Government, he said.

“Marshal Sandeep Nandal conducted the investigation and it was found, Neeraj works in Kerala and came especially for the job interview. Jitender, who was issuing fake job interview letters to people, used to tell them that the interview had been delayed due to COVID-19. However, Neeraj appeared for the interview and that’s how the scandal came to the fore”, he said.

When asked about how many people are involved in the job scam, Gupta said that five-six persons were working with Jitender. His phone was seized and the contact number of members of Haryana Staff Selection Commission was found on the contact list. Police is investigating the case and ascertaining whether the numbers are correct or fake, he added.

Through the inquiry of officers in Haryana Vidhan Sabha, it came to notice that he was running a national level nexus and had also issued a job letter for Delhi Police. Earlier, a letter for a job of constable in Haryana Police was also issued by the accused. 50 HSSC admit cards for Group D jobs in Haryana Police was also issued by him, Gupta said.

When asked about the links of the accused in Haryana Vidhan Sabha and HSSC, the Speaker said that the Police is investigating the case.

According to the information, he had issued nine fake interview letters in Haryana Vidhan Sabha and charged Rs 15.30 lakh from a person assuring him a job of clerk in Vidhan Sabha and offering a job letter.