Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC) deputy director Md. Abu Jafar and assistant director Md. Alamgir Kabir, who have been arrested on charges of leaking questions of different exams held under PSC, are involved with coaching centres for recruitment exams.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police arrested 15 others, including another PSC deputy director Jahangir Alam, on the same allegations on Monday and Tuesday.
PSC deputy director Abu Jafar was deprived of promotions for three years as there were several negative reports on him. Another deputy director Jahangir Alam was transferred from Dhaka for making excessive recommendations.
Apart from them, PSC employee Md. Khalilur Rahman was accused in a criminal case and a divisional case for leaking question papers. He somehow managed to omit his name from the list of the accused and eventually returned to the PSC on a court order.
Another arrestee Syed Abed Ali, former driver at the PSC, provided a fake address during his recruitment. He even lost his job for leaking question papers of different PSC exams. These came up in Prothom Alo’s investigation and in the analysis of different PSC documents.
The coaching centre business
PSC deputy director Md. Abu Jafar and assistant director Md. Alamgir Kabir are involved with coaching centres for recruitment exams. Many of the PSC officials and employees are aware of the fact.
Abu Jafar is the director of Jyoti Commercial Coaching Centre for recruitment tests. The coaching centre was named after his wife Jyoti. It has been learnt from the administrative department of the PSC that Abu Jafar didn’t get any promotion for a few years due to several negative intelligence reports on him.
Apart from him, PSC assistant director Alamgir Kabir also has a coaching centre for recruitment preparations in the capital’s Mirpur. Speaking to Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity, a PSC official said Alamgir Kabir shifted from Azimpur to Mirpur after launching the coaching centre business. He didn’t have to face any question for opening coaching centres despite being a PSC official.
Asked about this, PSC chairman Md. Sohorab Hossain told Prothom Alo, “I came to learn about their coaching centre business only after the allegation surfaced. We would have taken proper actions had we known that before.”
Countless recommendations from Jahangir Alam
PSC assistant director Jahangir Alam was attached to the Dhaka office. There are allegations that he used to make recommendations to concerned PSC members for various recruitment-related issues frequently.
At one point, several members complained against him to the PSC chairman. Following that, he was warned verbally over this. However, he was later transferred to the Sylhet regional office of the PSC as the verbal warning went in vain.
Khalilur’s return to the PSC
In 2012, a case was filed against PSC employee Md. Khalilur Rahman with the Shahbagh police station during the 33rd BCS and he was suspended from the job.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested him following that. Later, he came out on bail. A departmental case was also filed against him at the time.
A PSC official said Khalilur successfully lobbied to get exempted from the case. Later, in March 2022, all the allegations against him in the two cases were retracted due to lack of proper evidence. He also got the due salary allowances for the months he was on suspension. He is now serving as the despatch rider at the PSC.
Abed Ali got fired
Former PSC driver Syed Abed Ali, who has been arrested in connection with leaking question papers of different PSC exams, used a fake address during his recruitment. He was suspended in 2014 after the allegation against him of being involved in question leaking was proven.
According to a PSC report, the written exam for the non-cadre post of assistant maintenance engineer under the information and communication technology ministry was held on 22 April 2014. The authorities caught an examinee red-handed with the four answer scripts containing the answers of the question, which was illegally provided from outside the exam hall.
Following the incident, a case was lodged. Abed Ali was found to be actively involved in question paper leaking in the investigation of the case. After that he was removed from the job. There are countless allegations against Abed Ali being involved in illegal activities.
The PSC report on this issue states Syed Abed Ali joined PSC as a driver on 2 December 1997. Although he was from Madaripur, he mentioned Sirajganj as his home district. Meanwhile, a departmental case was filed against Abed Ali for providing scripts with the answers of the questions during the recruitment exam for the post of assistant maintenance engineer held on 22 April 2014.
The complaints lodged against him were sent to his permanent address in writing through a letter. However, the postal department found nobody at that address to handover the letter and sent that back to the PSC. His suspension order was also sent back to the PSC.
Later, it was revealed that Abed Ali used a fake address during his recruitment after the Sirajganj DC informed the PSC that Abed Ali or any of his ancestors never lived in Sirajganj. He is also accused in another departmental case.
* This report appeared on the online version of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu