THATTA, July 14: Some unsuccessful candidates belonging to Thatta produced documentary evidence before an inquiry team that a majority of those recruited in the district police were residents of other districts.

Riaz Ali Khaskheli, Ali Sher Jhatiyal and other brought proofs that many of the recruits were over-aged and had been inducted in sheer violation of rules.

Even the required educational qualification for new appointments had been ignored, they told the two-member team, comprising Justice (retd) Hassan Ali Shah Bukhari and Abdul Jabbar, assistant director of the team, on Friday.

The team was formed by the chief minister to conduct an inquiry into alleged irregularities and corruption in the recruitment of police constables in Thatta district.

Around 300 vacancies of police constables were announced in May in the Thatta police department and candidates were recruited.

Reliable sources told Dawn that a few dozen unsuccessful candidates for the post and two employees of the police department, sheet clerk Sattar Solangi and then accountant Raja Shahid, appeared before the team and recorded their statements.

The candidates alleged that names of local applicants, who had passed physical and written test, had been ignored while outsiders had been recruited for bribe.

The candidates alleged that the then SSP Thatta and other officials had avoided displaying final list of the qualified candidates and made illegal appointments.

The team asked police officials who appeared before them in the presence of Thatta SSP Usman Ghani Siddiqui to produce examination papers and relevant record of the selected candidates but officials failed to do so.

The team members seized the record of the recruitment process and directed the officials in writing to appear in their office in Karachi on Tuesday along with the relevant record.