The CBI Friday conducted searches at 37 locations in six districts of Jammu and Kashmir in connection with alleged irregularities in the recruitment exam of accounts assistants in the finance department held on March 6 last year, officials said.

CBI sleuths swooped down at the premises of middlemen and other accused at 30 locations in Jammu in R S Pura, Karan Bangh and several other areas on Friday morning, they said, adding the operation was conducted in other districts including Udhampur, Rajouri, Reasi and Doda.

The premises of several touts who helped candidates in the selection process were searched during the operation, officials said.

The CBI registered a case in November last year over alleged irregularities in the examination conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB), officials said.

It has booked 20 people in the case, including Neelam Khajuria, a former member of JKSSB, section officer Anju Raina, and Karnail Singh, who was then a medical officer of the BSF frontier headquarters and also an accused in the J-K Police Sub-Inspector recruitment examination scam case.

The examination was conducted by the board on March 6, 2022, and its results were published on April 21 that year.

The results showed a high percentage of selected candidates were from the districts of Jammu, Kathua and Reasi, leading to allegations of paper leak and other irregularities, officials said. "There were allegations regarding malpractices in the examination and the Government of Jammu and Kashmir constituted an inquiry committee to look into the same.

"The report of the committee revealed the alleged conspiracy among officials of JKSSB, a private company based in Bangalore, beneficiary candidates and others causing gross irregularities in the conduct of the said examination," the CBI spokesperson had said after the FIR was filed on November 28.

It was also alleged that JKSSB violated rules in assigning the task of setting question papers to the Bengaluru-based private company.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.