Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi and several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were detained on Monday while protesting outside Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s home against alleged irregularities in the conduct of civil services examinations, ANI reported.

The BJP leaders had gathered outside the chief minister’s residence as thousands of job aspirants began marching towards the Jharkhand Assembly on Monday morning.

Several protesters were also seen crossing police barricades heading towards the Vidhan Sabha. A video by PTI showed the police using water cannons in an attempt to control the demonstration.

The students have been protesting in Ranchi since July 25, inspired by the agitation across the country against the alleged mismanagement of national competitive exams. The protesters have been holding a sit-in at Ranchi’s Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium, with six demonstrators on a fast.

The detentions came a day after the Jharkhand government agreed to cancel three examinations, including the preliminary examination of the 14th Jharkhand Public Service Commission Combined Civil Services, after talks with two delegations of protesting students.

The government also agreed to involve the Enforcement Directorate in an inquiry into alleged financial irregularities linked to the 14th civil services examination.

However, the talks failed to resolve the students’ key demands for cancellation of the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission-Combined Graduate Level examination results and a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into all state public commission examinations.

The government has refused to cancel the graduate-level examination results, saying the exam was conducted under the monitoring of the Supreme Court and the Jharkhand High Court. It has instead proposed a high-level judicial inquiry headed by a retired judge to investigate allegations related to the examination.

The government said that it has accepted 98% of the protesters' demands. Student leaders, however, said they would continue their agitation until their remaining demands were met.

On Monday, Marandi backed the students’ demand for a CBI investigation.

“Students are continuing their protest, but the government is distracting people… [all exams] should be investigated by the CBI,” ANI quoted the BJP leader as saying.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

Also read: In Jharkhand, youth lose years of their lives trying to clear the JPSC exams

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