The Central Bureau of Investigation booked 17 people, including 12 Army officials, on Wednesday for alleged irregularities in the recruitment of religious teachers in the force in 2013, PTI reported. The officials allegedly accepted bribes from candidates to get them hired.
The Army had hired religious teachers at the Artillery Centre, Hyderabad, in 2013 to lead spiritual activities to motivate the troops.
According to the First Information Report, the suspected mastermind, Subedar MN Tripathi, gave the recruitment panel a list of 20 candidates and asked for them to be given simple questions and more marks during the hiring process. Tripathi had earlier been a part of the panel, but was removed after a complaint was filed against him.
Four neighbours of Tripathi from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and one person in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar were booked for paying the bribes to influence the recruitment, officials said. The bribes were paid through bank accounts.
The CBI filed a case of criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption based on a complaint by a former Army officer in Hyderabad.
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