FIA books FPSC official, CCS candidates in answer sheet swap scandal

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has filed a First Information Report (FIR) against an official of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), two candidates and one another person for allegedly replacing answer sheets in the Central Superior Services (CSS) 2022 exam in exchange for Rs1 million.

According to the FIR, the FIA’s anti-corruption circle in Islamabad launched an inquiry based on a complaint of FPSC Director General (Administration) Unsar Hayat Gonsdal.

The inquiry revealed that Nadeem Mohammad Khan, an assistant in the secrecy branch of the FPSC, had replaced the answer sheets of two candidates who appeared in the CSS exam 2022.

The fraud came to light during the interview stage, when some candidates who had scored exceptionally high marks in the written exam failed to perform well in the viva voce.

An internal fact-finding committee comprising FPSC DO Secrecy Syed Ahmed Babur Zaidi,  Member FPSC Zaheer Parvaiz Khan and Member FPSC Akbar Hussain Durrani also conducted an inquiry and found Nadeem Muhammad Khan guilty of tampering with the answer books of candidates Ali Sher (Roll No 22498) and Halar Ahmed (Roll No 23509).

The inquiry also scrutinized the answer books of all the accused candidates and found that the answer books of Ali Sher and Halar Ahmed had been swapped with other candidates that they had attempted in the examination halls. Nadeem Muhammad Khan had done this with the help of Muhammad Ibrahim, a resident of Karachi, who had allegedly offered him Rs1 million for the scam.

The FIR further stated that the serial numbers of the 24 answer books were different from those recorded on the attendance sheets in the examination halls. Out of the 24 answer books, 22 had not been issued by the examination cell to any hall or centre in the CSS 2022 exam. Only two answer books had been issued to hall-3 in Karachi, which had been used by Halar Ahmed.

The FIA has registered a case under sections 34, 161, 409, 201 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 5(2) 47 of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Nadeem Muhammad Khan, Halar Ahmed, Ali Sher and Muhammad Ibrahim. The role of ex-deputy director of the FPSC, Mumtaz Hussain Shoukat, and others in this scam will be investigated further, sources said.