Bhubaneswar: Days after the main written examination of Junior Engineer (Civil), conducted by the Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) was cancelled over alleged leak of question papers, Balasore police claimed to have arrested seven more persons including the mastermind from Bihar. This takes the total number of arrests to 16 so far in the paper leak case. Earlier, police had nabbed nine persons from Digha in West Bengal.

As per reports, the main written examination of JE (Civil) conducted on July 16 was cancelled by the OSSC following a report submitted by Balasore Superintendent of Police (SP) Sagarika Nath in connection with the question paper leak. Nath claimed that Balasore police have busted an interstate job fraud racket and arrested nine persons in this regard. She also made it clear that the members of the racket had provided the genuine question papers of the JE (Civil) main examination to some job aspirants by collecting huge sums from them

Following the exam cancellation, hundreds of aspirants in display of resentment staged a dharna in front of the OSSC office in the capital city here and sought stringent action against the officials involved in the question paper leak. The agitators also tried to meet OSSC Chairman Abhay, a former Director General of Police (DGP) in Odisha, to put forth their grievances. They later reached the grievance cell of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to urge the state government to take immediate measures to check similar incidents in future, and were seen prostrating and seeking utmost transparency in all recruitment examinations in Odisha.