ITBP recruitment paper leak: Court grants bail to 2 Indian Institute of Psychometry directors

New Delhi, Jan 7 (PTI) A Delhi court has granted bail to two directors of the Indian Institute of Psychometry (IIP) in connection with the ITBP recruitment paper-leak case, noting that the investigating officer has sought no further custodial interrogation and thus, any continued incarceration of the accused will serve no fruitful purpose.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Nupur Gupta has granted bail to Shubhendu Kumar Paul and Jaydeep Goswami on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each.

Noting that the chargesheet has been filed and that the investigating officer (IO) has sought no further custodial interrogation of the accused after more than three months of custody, the court ruled in favour of the applicants.

In an order dated January 5, the court said, "As trial is likely to take time and there appears to be no requirement of the accused for any further custodial interrogation, no fruitful purpose would be served by keeping the applicants behind bars. In view of the same, present bail application is allowed." Both the accused have been directed to appear before the court on each date of hearing, not to tamper with the evidence or attempt to influence witnesses, and not leave the country without the court's prior permission.

One of the accused in the case, Dharmender, was granted bail on December 23, 2025.

The Delhi Police arrested three IIP directors -- Goswami, Paul and Amitav Roy -- in September 2025 in connection with the paper-leak case. Police also arrested a consultant, Rohit Raj, and a printer, Dharmender.

According to a complaint filed by Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Commandant Kushal Kumar, the IIP was awarded a contract through tenders to conduct the written test for recruitment for the post of constable (tradesmen), police had earlier said in a statement.

The agency was responsible for preparing and printing question papers, designing and scanning OMR sheets, ensuring secure transport of the same and maintaining confidentiality.

The exam was held on January 10, 2021, for 46,174 candidates at 81 centres in 13 cities. However, the question paper surfaced on WhatsApp even before the examination began.

During the police investigation into the IIP's involvement in the alleged paper leak, an employee disclosed that the directors were responsible for the breach and had outsourced parts of the examination process.

On September 19, 2025, the three IIP directors were arrested from Kolkata and produced before a court in Sealdah, which granted their transit remand to Delhi.

During interrogation, the IIP directors disclosed the involvement of a consultant and a printer in the racket, which consequently led to the arrest of Raj and Dharmender. PTI MDB RC