Two more persons from Haryana arrested in VSSC recruitment cheating, impersonation case

Thiruvananthapuram: Two more persons from Haryana have been arrested in connection with the alleged impersonation and cheating during a test for recruiting technical staff in the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).

Earlier, two persons were arrested in the case on Sunday bringing the total arrests to four in the case.

The latest arrest of the two, out of the four from Haryana who were being questioned in custody, was formally recorded late last night at the Medical College police station here.

An officer of the Medical College police station said the two were also part of the conspiracy to impersonate candidates and cheat in the test.

"They are all part of the same team, the same conspiracy. They all came here together," he said.

Meanwhile, the other two, who were arrested on Sunday after being caught red-handed while impersonating candidates and cheating in the test, have been remanded in judicial custody, police said.

After the impersonation and cheating came to light, police on Monday had launched a full-fledged probe and VSSC later, on the same day, cancelled the exam.

VSSC, the lead centre for the development of ISRO's launch vehicles, in a notification had said that the written test to the posts of technician-B, draughtsman-B and radiographer-A that was held on August 20 at various centres in Thiruvananthapuram stands cancelled.

"The revised schedule for the test will be informed to all the candidates concerned, through the VSSC website in due course. Inconvenience caused is regretted," it had said.

As more than 400 candidates from a single state -- Haryana -- had taken the test, there are suspicions over whether coaching centres may be involved. An investigating team will be sent to Haryana to collaborate with the state's police for the probe, police had said on Monday.

A case under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and various other provisions of the IPC and the Information Technology Act has been lodged against those arrested, police have said.

The national-level recruitment test was held only in Kerala at 10 exam centres across the state, police added.