Lagatar24 Desk
Ramgarh, June 4: The family of Divya Pandey (24), who claimed she had aced the UPSC civil services exam in her first attempt, apologized to the district administration and Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) on Friday, both of whom congratulated her, as well as the media for furnishing erroneous information about her success, calling it an “inadvertent error.”
Divya Pandey’s family members and neighbours expressed regret on her behalf, saying that it was one Divya P of South India, not Divya Pandey, who cracked the UPSC examination with a 323rd rank.
Divya Pandey’s elder sister, Priyadarshni Pandey, stated her sister was told by a friend in Uttar Pradesh that she had passed UPSC with an AIR 323rd rank.
“We attempted to verify the results on the UPSC website, but the internet was down. It was an unintentional blunder,” she said.
The Central Coalfields Ltd Chairman and Managing Director, PM Prasad, and other top officials had congratulated Divya Pandey for cracking UPSC without any professional coaching in her first attempt, based on the family’s assertions. Divya Pandey’s father is a retired crane operator from CCL.
The allegations had gotten a lot of attention in the media.
Ramgarh DC Madhavi Mishra, who had also congratulated Divya Pandey at her office in the district collectorate, called it a “human error.”
Officials in Ramgarh claim they have taken no action against the girl or her family in this matter.
The family members said that there was no purpose of disseminating false information or news and that Divya, a resident of Rajrappa colony in the Chitarpur block of Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district, had departed for Delhi after learning the reality.
“We apologise for this blunder,” they said.
