High court ASO exam irregularities: Vigilance court rejects bail pleas of 4 accused

Cuttack: A vigilance court here has rejected the bail pleas of four persons arrested in connection with the alleged leak of model answers and use of unfair means in the assistant section officer (ASO) examination-2024 conducted by the Orissa high court.

The HC cancelled the July 13, 2025, main written examination following allegations of malpractice and conducted a fresh written test on Dec 7 last year, results of which were declared on Feb 12 this year. The recruitment drive is underway for filling up 147 ASO vacancies in the court.


The accused — Himansu Sekhar Dash, Sridhara Mantri, Nirmalaya Kumar Das and Gangadhara Jena — were arrested along with two others on Jan 31 after investigation unearthed alleged large-scale irregularities in the July 2025 examination.

The case was registered at Lalbag police station in Cuttack following a complaint about discrepancies noticed during scrutiny of the examination conducted through an outsourcing agency. The accused were booked under multiple provisions of BNS and sections 11(1), 11(2) and 12 of the Odisha Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. The accused included representatives of the outsourcing agency and middlemen.

The bail applications of the four accused were moved after the SDJM (Sadar) rejected their bail pleas on the same day.

Opposing the bail pleas, the prosecution argued that the probe is at a crucial stage and releasing the accused could hamper the investigation.

Rejecting the bail applications on Tuesday, special judge (vigilance) Dilip Kumar Sahoo observed that the other accused are still absconding and the investigation is at a nascent stage. The court noted that there is every possibility of the accused tampering with evidence or absconding if released on bail, and termed the alleged offences serious in nature. “Considering the larger interest of society and the future of innocent aspirants, I am not inclined to release the accused on bail,” the judge said in four separate orders.

According to case records, examination of answer scripts revealed verbatim reproduction of model answers and unusually high scores secured by certain candidates. Technical investigation, including analysis of call detail records, allegedly established suspicious links between agency officials, intermediaries and candidates. Investigators said prima facie evidence points to the involvement of more persons.