Cuttack: Six people were arrested Saturday for their alleged involvement in leaking model answers and use of unfair means in the conduct of ASO (assistant section officer) Examination-2024 of the Orissa High Court, police said.
In a statement, police said that a case was registered at Lal Bag Police Station here following a complaint regarding discrepancies detected in the conduct of the examination by an outsourcing agency July 13, 2025.
“Examination of answer scripts revealed verbatim reproduction of model answers and unusually high scores by some of the candidates,” the police said, adding that technical investigation, including phone record analysis, uncovered suspicious communication links between agency officials, intermediaries, and candidates.
“Based on documentary, digital, and technical evidence, six accused persons have been arrested. Prima facie, involvement of the other five accused persons, who are already in judicial custody for their involvement in SI and special OTET exam irregularities, has been revealed,” the police said, adding that they will be remanded in this case during the course of investigation.
The acts of all the accused persons constitute a large-scale organised crime and criminal conspiracy, police said.
The arrested accused persons were identified as Himansu Sekhar Dash, Sridhara Mantri, Alok Sahoo (all three from Bhubaneswar), Nirmalaya Kumar Das (Balasore), Gangadhara Jena (Cuttack) and Joytirmayee Sahoo (Ganjam).
They are arrested under different sections of BNS, including 318(4) (cheating and dishonesty), 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 316(5) (criminal breach of trust), 111 (organised crime), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) and 3(5) (common intention).
Further investigation is in progress to trace the financial trail, identify other accused persons, and uncover the wider conspiracy, police said
Earlier, the Orissa High Court had cancelled the ASO examination of July 13, 2025 and conducted a fresh Mains written examination on December 7, 2025. The examination was conducted for 147 vacancies.
PTI
