Jharkhand High Court on Thursday directed the CBI to investigate selection of candidates through the second combined examination conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Examination (JPSC) a few years ago.

Hearing on a bunch of petitions challenging the second JPSC examinations, the division bench of Justice R K Merathia and Justice D N Upadhyay ordered all the officers posted in various state departments, barring a lady, to stop work till the CBI concludes its investigation as the combined competitive examination was found to be tainted.

The bench also directed that salaries to the officers should be stopped until the probe process was completed.

After the selection of the candidates through the JPSC-conducted examinations, they were posted in various departments like the police, the education and other administrative departments.