Thaindian News

Mumbai, Oct 6 (IANS) A senior Indian Navy officer has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the leak of a defence examination paper, an official said here Wednesday.

Commander Ramesh Chand Saini, who is posted at the INS Angre headquarters of the Western Naval Command, was picked up from his residence Tuesday evening and presented before a CBI Special Court.

Special Judge N.P. Dhote has remanded Saini to custody till Oct 13.

The CBI said that Saini, along with another accused, Ram Chandra Naik, who was a member of the examination board, went to Pune for printing the question papers from Atharva Consultancy and Allied Services between Sep 16 and Sep 18.

They also stayed in Hotel Kohinoor at the expense of Vikas Thakur of Atharva Consultancy & Allied Services and managed to copy the question papers in a pen-drive.

Naik took the pen-drive and handed it to another accused, Rambir Singh Rawat, in Navi Mumbai the following day, Sep 19.

Later, the CBI learnt that Saini had also given a hard copy of the question paper to Naik and the investigators recovered it in a damaged condition from his residence.

On Sep 26, the CBI had busted a gang of four, including two administrative officers of the Western and Eastern Naval Commands, for allegedly leaking the confidential question papers of the lower division clerk examinations to over 130 candidates.

They are - R.C. Naik, administrative officer of Western Naval Command, D.S. Murthi, administrative officer of Eastern Naval Command, Rambhir Singh Rawat, an ex-sailor who owns Manasa International Defence recruitment agency in Vishakapatnam and Hoshiyar Singh, a teacher from Hyderabad.

After getting the question paper, Rawat and Hoshiyar brought 134 candidates from Vishakapatnam to United Lodge in South Mumbai and gave practical training on how to tackle it.

After the scam was unearthed by the CBI, the printing press owner B.S. Thakur died of a heart attack earlier this week when CBI officials went to interrogate him.