Three Colonels booked for job scam in the Army, face arrest

Vikram Rautela. Busting a major recruitment scam in the Indian Military Academy (IMA) here, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked three serving lieutenant colonels, including two from the IMA, on charges of forgery and conspiracy. The officers are accused of issuing fake experience certificates to candidates and replacing their original answer sheets during group C and group D recruitments held by the IMA in 2011-12.


The CBI registered a case against the accused in Dehradun earlier this week and a formal chargesheet is expected soon. Sources said the three officers and some others may be arrested soon by CBI sleuths.

The accused — Lt. Col. Akhilesh Mishra, Lt. Col. Jagdish Bishnoi (the then catering officer in IMA and member of the selection board for group 'C' category) and Lt. Col. Ambarish Tewari (the then Admin Officer in the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) and member of the selection board for group 'D' category) — have been booked for conspiracy, forgery and furnishing of fake documents. "Further investigations are on and some arrests are likely," a CBI source said.

According to CBI, the accused had issued forged documents to facilitate recruitment of 34 candidates and helped in replacing the original answer sheets of 16 others in order to help them clear the written test. "The three had taken money for this work. The exact amount, however, is a matter of investigation," the source added.

The IMA had in the year 2011-12 recruited a total of 286 group C and group D employees after a rigorous recruitment process.

IMA spokesperson Prashant Tripathi, said documents and experience certificates issued to a large number of IMA employees were found fake during the authentication process of the academy. "The CBI came into the picture because of an alarmingly large number of such cases this time," he said.

The department of personnel and training (DoPT) directed the Dehradun branch of CBI to take up the case a few months ago. "A preliminary inquiry was registered following allegations that some officers of the IMA and RIMC had committed 'irregularities' during the IMA recruitment process," a CBI officer told TOI.

During the investigations that followed, CBI gathered sufficient evidence to establish the alleged role of these three senior army men in the recruitment scam. The agency filed two regular cases under various IPC sections for criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery and under the Prevention of Corruption Act, against the officers as well as candidates selected on the basis of the fake documents.

via Times Of India

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Corruption , Indian Army , Recruitment Frauds , Scams , No comments