The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police arrested three government employees on July 30 for allegedly operating a fraud ring that provided proxy candidates for government job exams. Among those detained is a recommended officer for the 45th BCS (Cooperative Cadre), as part of a wider probe into recruitment irregularities in Noakhali.
The arrests occurred during separate operations in Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar. The arrested individuals are Nurnabi (55) of Noakhali’s Begumganj Upazila, Md. Sohel (40) of Laxmipur Sadar, and Zulfiqar Ali, also known as Raihan (29) of Hatiya.
The Role of the Detained Government Employees
The suspects were not outsiders to the civil service; they were already embedded within government structures. Nurnabi and Md. Sohel were serving as office assistants at the Divisional Tax Commissioner’s Office in Tax Zone-2, Agrabad, Chittagong. Zulfiqar Ali was working as a junior assistant manager at the Matarbari coal-fired power plant project. He had recently been recommended for the Cooperative Cadre in the 45th BCS.
This detail underscores a critical breach in the recruitment process: a candidate who had successfully navigated the prestigious BCS selection process was allegedly involved in helping others cheat their way into lower-grade government positions.
Handwriting Discrepancies and the Noakhali Recruitment Probe
The fraud came to light during a recruitment drive for various positions from Grade-13 to Grade-20 at the Noakhali Tax Zone, which was conducted following approval from the Internal Resources Division of the Ministry of Finance. Online applications were invited for these roles. Written exams were held on June 5 across three centers in Noakhali, eventually leading to the preliminary selection of 112 candidates. On June 21, directions were issued for these candidates to join with necessary documents for final appointment.
The scheme collapsed during the final document verification phase. Officials noticed significant inconsistencies in the handwriting of certain candidates. Specifically, it was found that the handwriting on the application forms and the checklists filled out during oral examinations did not match for Md. Kamal Uddin, who was nominated for the post of office assistant, and Md. Nasfurullah, who was nominated for the post of office assistant-cum-computer typist.
When these candidates were asked to write again, the discrepancies became even more apparent. Under questioning, the candidates admitted that proxy examinees had taken the written, practical, and oral exams in their place.
The Organized Proxy Network and Legal Action
The investigation revealed that this was not an isolated incident of cheating but the work of an organized syndicate. CID’s Additional Special Police Super (Media) Abu Taleb stated in a press release on Friday, July 31, that the investigation into the Noakhali Tax Zone recruitment exams uncovered this information. The CID found evidence of a coordinated ring that supplied proxy candidates to various government job exams in exchange for money. The investigative agency believes this group has been engaged in such fraudulent activities for a long time.
The sequence of legal events is as follows:
- June 22: A case was filed at the Sudharam Model Police Station on charges of fraud, forgery, and assistance. Following this, the CID took over the investigation of the case.
- July 30: CID conducted separate raids, arresting Nurnabi and Sohel from the Tax Zone-2 office in Agrabad, Chittagong, and Zulfiqar Ali from the Matarbari area of Cox’s Bazar.
- July 31: The CID issued a press release confirming the arrests and the transfer of the three suspects to court.
While three government employees were the focus of the latest raids, the CID noted that a total of six individuals named in the primary complaint (FIR) have now been arrested. The CID is continuing its operations to identify and capture other members of the syndicate.
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