IPS officer M Harsha Vardhan, awarded Union HM’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation during his tenure in AP
New Delhi, August 12
IPS officer M Harsha Vardhan presently posted as Additional DCP in South district of Delhi Police was posted as SP, Special Investigation Cell in Arunachal Pradesh, where he led the investigation into a major recruitment scam in the exam conducted by the Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB).
It was found that candidates had paid 8-12 lakhs each to the then Under Secretary of APSSB for clearing the exam. They were asked to leave the OMR sheet blank and later the then Under Secretary of APSSB used her access to the strong room to fill in the correct answers. Evidence like CCTV footage had been destroyed. More than 20 persons were arrested in the case. Unexplained transactions were traced to an account linked to the arrested Under Secretary and her husband.
The account containing more than 1 crore rupees was seized. Electronic gadgets like mobile phones of accused, hard disks of CCTV system were seized and sent to CFSL Chandigarh, as there are no forensic facilities for digital evidence in Arunachal. Various deleted WhatsApp chats and images were recovered from the phones of the accused persons which provided vital evidence in the case and also revealed that a similar scam had occurred in UDC examination conducted by APSSB earlier, for which SIC registered a separate case. For the first time ever in Arunachal Pradesh, approver evidence was secured against the main accused in a Prevention of Corruption Act case.
Harsha Vardhan as SP, SIC, played the key role in ensuring that accused are booked and proper evidence is collected in the case even in a state like Arunachal Pradesh that lacks the required facilities.
