When various government and private organizations started the recruitment process after a long hiatus due to corona, there were alarming reports in the media that millions had been embezzled by fraudsters who leaked the question papers. Bangladesh Bank has cancelled the test after it came to know of the question paper leak of recruitment tests in five state-owned banks. Multiple more tests have been postponed. But will these moderate steps reduce the anxiety of millions of job seekers?

According to Prothom Alo, 116,427 candidates took part in the recruitment tests of five banks held against 1,511 posts last Saturday. As soon as the exam was over, the printed answer sheets of 100 questions are available on Facebook. Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology was in charge of exam management. From the evidence that has been found so far, it is clear that the employees of the concerned department of this university are involved in the fraud.

Police have arrested five bank officials and three employees of the concerned university on charges of forging bank recruitment test questions. A laptop, five mobile phones, four question papers, four answer sheets, photos of answer sheets on WhatsApp, a photocopy of an admission card and Tk 600,000 in cash were seized from them.

According to information provided by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, a member of the Detective Branch`s Tejgaon area disguised himself as an examinee and was taken to the booth after paying advance money to Raisul Islam alias Swapan, one of the ringleaders of the question paper and answer sheet leak gang. Later, Raisul was arrested red handed along with examination papers. Based on the information given by Raisul, said the main leader of the cycle. Muktaruzzaman Royal and others were arrested.

In Badda, Bashundhara, Uttara, Mohammadpur, Kalyanpur, Rupnagar, Mirpur, Matuail, Shewrapara, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and Pallabi areas of the capital, booths were set up and the leaked questions and answer sheets were memorised.

The DB`s investigative team has to be thanked for the way they have caught the fraudsters red handed. At the same time, the question arises, after the start of the recruitment process, 10 to 20 examinations are held on weekly holidays. What is the guarantee that similar frauds did not occur in the recruitment test of other organisations? Therefore, it is necessary to look into all the recruitment tests. Those who are earning millions by cheating and depriving the meritorious candidates should be brought under the law.

Bangladesh Bank has cancelled the recruitment test held last Saturday due to allegations of fraud. This will thwart the efforts of those who wanted to pass the exam in a deceitful way. But what is the remedy for the suffering of millions of examinees? The authorities should not charge any fee from the previous candidates for taking the new test. Earlier, there were incidents of fraud in various examinations including admission test in medical college. In some cases the perpetrators were punished but in most cases they remained out of reach. This time it should not be repeated. Everyone must be brought punished.