New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at 26 locations in six states, including Bhubaneswar and Ganjam in Odisha, in a case related to irregularities in Class 10 and 12 examinations of National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).
The bureau in a statement said the searches have been conducted at the residences of officials working in NIOS, ex-officials of NIOS, study centres and private individuals. It is related to an ongoing investigation of the case in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, New Delhi, Haryana, Assam and Sikkim, it further said.
The investigating agency has recovered around 200 items including hard disk drives, mobile phones and various incriminating documents such as admit cards, vouchers, passbooks, mark sheets, cheque books, seals, diaries, answer sheets of NIOS, payments received from candidates, fees payment made to NIOS and seating plan of examination hall.
It may be mentioned here that the CBI registered the case July 23 following a complaint filed by Ministry of Human Resource Development alleging that there were malpractices in the conduct of examination with respect to a large number of student — around 1,800 — in the Class X and XII examinations, conducted by NIOS in April, 2017.
Officials said that investigation is underway.