REET 2023: 37 arrested in Jodhpur over alleged paper leak attempt

JODHPUR: Rajasthan police arrested 37 people, including students, during a raid carried out at a marriage hall here early Saturday to foil an alleged attempt to leak teachers' recruitment examination paper (REET 2023), officials said. Nearly nine lakh students were expected to appear in the exam for the recruitment of Level -I (class 1 to 5), and Level-II (class 6 to 8) school teachers conducted on Saturday by the Rajasthan Staff Selection Board in two shifts - from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm, and from 3 pm to 5.30 pm.

DCP (East) Amrita Duhan, however, said that the questionnaire found from those arrested did not match the actual question paper and further investigation was on. She said police had raided Udaygarh Marriage Palace in the Mandore area just hours before the exam was due to be held following a tip-off that the question paper was being leaked to some students who were staying there. All these students had to appear in the first shift of the examination.

“We found 30 students, including 10 females, and seven other persons who were behind the attempt to leak the paper,” said Duhan. The police seized a laptop and a printer along with some papers which had answers. The leader of the gang, identified as Suresh Thori from Raimalwada in Osian tehsil, claimed that he had purchased the paper for Rs 40 lakh from one Praveen Bishnoi of Jalore and had paid Rs. 10 lakh in advance.

Bishnoi is absconding, Duhan said, adding that those arrested also include the owner and manager of the marriage hall along with one Mukesh Joshi, a computer operator, and three others who had been tasked to solve the paper.

“We have booked all of them under sections 420 (cheating) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy)of IPC and 10 (2) of Rajasthan Public Examination Act”, Duhan said. She said that Thori had allegedly entered a deal with the students to provide the papers to them for Rs. 3 lakh to 8 lakh. “We are also investigating whether Thori knew that the paper was actual or not and also if he had been linked to paper leaks earlier”, Duhan said.

Meanwhile, mobile internet services were suspended in Jodhpur in view of the exam. A major row had erupted after the paper in Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers-(REET) held in September 2021 was leaked and the exam was cancelled.