Jharkhand CID detains former JPSC chief amid escalating recruitment exam protests

Jharkhand’s Criminal Investigation Department arrested former Jharkhand Public Service Commission chair L Khiangte as the agitation over alleged recruitment exam irregularities entered its 17th day. Demonstrators, many of them students, gathered outside the old Assembly building on the chief minister’s birthday, marching toward the Assembly Complex and confronting a heavy security presence that included the Rapid Action Force, Indian Reserve Battalion, district police and Quick Response Teams.

Police resorted to water cannons near Jagannathpur Temple and later baton-charged the crowd, with several participants reporting injuries to heads, arms and faces. Protest leaders, including JLKM hunger-striker Devendra Nath Mahto and JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch head Ravindra Paswan, demanded the cancellation of the 14th Jharkhand PSC Civil Services Examination and a probe by the CBI or an external panel of retired judges.

The state government says it has accepted 98% of the protesters’ demands, but the demonstrators claim only three of the thirteen contested exams were withdrawn. The arrest of Khiangte underscores the mounting pressure on Hemant Soren’s administration to address the alleged corruption in the recruitment process.