The Maharashtra Public Service Commission has cancelled the Group-B Drug Inspector recruitment exam after a major paper leak investigation. The Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested six individuals, including senior commission officials, in connection with the scandal. A fresh examination will be held for all applicants, and no additional fees will be charged.
The Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) has officially scrapped its recruitment process for Group-B Drug Inspector positions following a serious breach in the integrity of the examination. The decision follows a detailed investigation by the Mumbai Crime Branch, which uncovered an organized paper leak scheme. Authorities have arrested six individuals, including Abhijit Lendwe, the Additional Secretary of the commission, alongside two other government employees, indicating the deep involvement of internal officials.
The investigation revealed that 294 confidential questions were accessed and leaked prior to the examination. Evidence gathered by the police points to a structured network where coaching center operators allegedly sold the question papers to candidates for a bribe of Rs 5 lakh. The scale of the breach was substantial enough to invalidate the entire merit list. The disruption is particularly notable as the recruitment process had already reached the interview stage, with 488 candidates having appeared for interviews before the irregularities forced the cancellation.
For the thousands of applicants who invested time in the previous phases, this cancellation means the entire selection process must begin again. The commission has assured candidates that they will not need to pay new application fees or register again for the upcoming re-examination. However, the official timeline for the new test remains unannounced as investigators continue to analyze communication logs between the arrested suspects to determine if further individuals within the commission were involved in the leak.
This incident is a matter of public administrative and governance failure rather than a financial market event, and it carries no direct impact on any listed company or financial index on the NSE or BSE. The primary concern for stakeholders is the restoration of transparency in state recruitment. The key monitorable for the public remains the announcement of the new examination schedule and the timeline for completing the hiring process without further administrative disruption.