TDS Desk:

Twenty-two individuals were detained posing as proxy candidates during the oral examination for office assistant positions at the Gaibandha Deputy Commissioner’s Office on Saturday. They were later handed over to police.

The detainees, hailing from various areas across Gaibandha, were identified when discrepancies were noted between the handwritings on the written exam papers and of those who appeared for the oral test.

Members of the recruitment board noticed irregularities during the oral examination, which began at 2 pm on Saturday. Out of the 226 candidates who qualified for this phase, 36 were marked absent.

Md. Shariful Islam, Deputy Director of Gaibandha’s Local Government Division and a member of the recruitment board, confirmed the incident. “When confronted, the detainees admitted that they were appearing as proxies for the actual candidates,” Islam said.

Officials suspect the involvement of an organized syndicate facilitating this type of examination fraud.

The recruitment process, initiated on May 25 by former Deputy Commissioner Kazi Nahid Rasul, aims to fill 55 office assistant vacancies in the revenue section of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office. The positions are open to candidates with SSC and HSC qualifications, drawing 3,722 applicants for the written exam held on Friday across various district educational institutions, with 226 advancing to the oral round.