Man arrested for false claim of being offered teacher job exam paper in Bengal in exchange of money

Kolkata, Sep 5 (PTI) Police on Friday arrested a man for allegedly spreading misinformation on social media that he was promised the question paper of the State Level Selection Test (SLST) conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in exchange for a hefty sum of money by a racket close to the ruling party.

In a statement, police said the person, Arindam Pal of Chandrakona in Paschim Medinipur district, was making false claims of being a SSC teacher recruitment candidate and was associated with a particular political party.

"Once we came across the Facebook post of Pal, we began a probe by tracing his digital footprint and checking his antecedents. It was found that he is not a resident of Murshidabad as claimed, but from Chandrakona in Paschim Medinipur. Furthermore, he is not even a registered candidate for the SLST," the police said in a statement.

The statement also noted that Pal, who is reportedly associated with a political party, made the false post "with the intent to create suspicion and doubt among candidates and disrupt the smooth conduct of the SLST scheduled on September 7 and 14." Paschim Medinipur police said the accused has been taken to police custody and appropriate legal steps are being taken against him.

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari had alleged that question paper was being sold by a racket in North 24 Parganas for as much as Rs 50,000.

The SLST is being held to fill 35,726 teaching posts for classes 9-10 and 11-12.

Adhikari told reporters here that he has information about question papers for the September 7 exam being sold for Rs 50,000 and claimed he has an audio clip to back up the claims.

The SSC has allayed the fears and asserted the question papers are in safe custody.

A senior WBSSC official said, "question papers of both days' tests (September 7 and 14) are safe and secure." PTI SUS MNB