Mobarak Hussain of Dinajpur is one of the applicants for the post of ‘office assistant’ in the Election Commission (EC). Mobarak ‘passed’ both the MCQs (multiple choice questions) and the written test.
Mobarak had come to the EC headquarters at Agargaon in the city on July 20 to appear for the viva-voce. He failed to answer any question correctly in the viva-voce, which caused the recruitment board to doubt his eligibility.
Once asked by the recruitment board, Mobarak said, “Sir, I did not take any test (MCQs and written). Someone else took those exams instead of me.
Mobarak confessed to the fraud in writing before the Election Commission. Mobarak said he struck a deal with a man for Tk 1.4 million to pass the MCQs and written test. As per the agreement, Mobarak himself did not participate in the two tests. Someone else sat in his place and made him pass in both. Mobarak had already paid 700,000 taka as per the deal.
On 20 July, the Election Commission filed a forgery case against Mobarak at the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station. Mobarak’s brother Mobasherul, who works as a gardener at the Election Training Institute (ETI), was also named as an accused in the case. EC handed him over to the police.
The Election Commission detained 13 more such candidates for allegedly passing the examination through similar fraudulent means. Mohammad Najmul Kabir, senior assistant secretary of the Election Commission, has registered a total of eight cases on such frauds.
“We detained 14 people who did not appear in the exam but passed in exchange of money. We handed them over to the police and registered a case. We are trying to identify if there is anyone else who has committed similar forgery,” Najmul Kabir told Prothom Alo on Wednesday.