Lucknow: The Economic Offences Wing of UP Police arrested former IAS officer Yogesh Kumar in connection with alleged irregularities in the 2014 recruitment of Livestock Extension Officers in the state’s animal husbandry department.Kumar, who was principal secretary of the department at the time of the recruitment process, was arrested from his Gomti Nagar residence in Lucknow on Wednesday.The case pertains to the recruitment of 1,198 livestock extension officers against vacancies in 17 divisions of Uttar Pradesh, excluding the Saharanpur division. The written exam for recruitment was held on Feb 2, 2014.Police said the recruitment process was not conducted in accordance with the UP Livestock Extension and Poultry Development Service Rules and the amended rules of 2013. Irregularities were also alleged in the evaluation of Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) answersheets and the preparation of the merit list.Allegations of Manipulation of OMR SheetsSP, EOW, Anoop Kumar Singh, said probe revealed that the Feroze Gandhi Institute in Rae Bareli was designated to undertake centralised evaluation of OMR answer sheets, allegedly in violation of the powers vested in divisional selection committees. The EOW said decisions were taken in the recruitment process contrary to the prescribed rules. The allegations include tampering with OMR sheets to disadvantage eligible candidates and benefit ineligible applicants. The case concerns alleged manipulation of the selection process and violations of recruitment rules, which investigators are examining as part of the criminal proceedings.SIT Probe Led to Registration of Case in 2019State govt had assigned the investigation into the alleged recruitment irregularities to a Special Investigation Team in 2017. Following the investigation, a case was registered at the SIT police station in 2019 under FIR No. 01/2019. The charges include Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), 420 (cheating), 467, 468 and 471 (offences relating to forgery and the use of forged documents), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the IPC, along with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.According to the EOW, a total of 28 accused have been identified in the case, including six named in the initial complaint and 22 others whose involvement emerged during probe. Chargesheets have already been filed against 25 accused in different dates in connection with the case.
