CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — The conduct of the Haryana Civil Services examinations is becoming murkier by the day.

Within a few days of an incident involving use of unfair means in the examinations, the city was today again rocked by a similar incident. An invigilator was accused of helping a candidate appearing in the Haryana Civil Services examinations. An agitated crowd gheraoed him for over an hour at the Sector 46 Government Model Senior Secondary School here today. The crowd dispersed only after the cops reached the spot.

According to aspirants, a solved answersheet was handed over to the candidate 15 minutes prior to the conclusion of the examination at around 4.45 p.m. They alleged the original answersheet had earlier been smuggled out by the candidate.

Alleging connivance of the invigilator with the student, they said the candidate was caught red-handed while handing over the original answersheet to the supervisor. He escaped in a Maruti Zen when a ruckus was kicked up. The other contestants also alleged the candidate was “known to a Punjab minister”.

The candidates further alleged the original “crumpled” answersheet was recovered from the invigilator. All efforts to talk to the invigilator proved futile as he was taken to a room in the school by the staff of the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC).

HPSC Chairman Krishan Bangar, who reached the school immediately after hearing the news, said: “We are looking into the matter. As of now, we cannot pinpoint at anything”.

The Station House Officer of Sector 34, Mr K.I.P. Singh, also reached the site after being directed to do so by the Superintendent of Police, Mr Baldev Singh, who was informed about the incident by an anonymous caller.

Meanwhile, total chaos prevailed in the examination centre after the candidate escaped. The students alleged the code number of the original sheet was 034426.

Senior police officers, when contacted, said the HPSC would be conducting its own inquiry and lodging a formal complaint only if required.

In an earlier incident, similar allegations were raised by the candidates in a centre in Sector 19. This matter was also hushed up and no steps taken to curb the menace.

In the incident which took place today at the Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 46, the candidates got panic by and started yelling and shouting. Some of the candidates said everything was mismanaged and “out of the control” of the supervisor.

The candidates feared that the exam might be cancelled and all their hard work would be wasted.