UP: 15 arrested for planning to leak question papers of police recruitment exam

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested 15 people who were allegedly planning to leak the question papers of the police constable recruitment examinations scheduled to be held on Saturday and Sunday and dupe aspirants, officials said. The arrests were made from Jhansi, Ghazipur, and Mau of Uttar Pradesh.

The Noida unit of Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested two persons in Jhansi and recovered two SUVs, photocopies of 10 admit cards, three mobile phones, two Aadhaar cards and two driving licences from them. The duo were identified as Monu Kumar, a resident of Shamli district, and Rajni, a resident of Nalanda district in Bihar. "The police had been getting inputs of miscreants attempting to leak question papers or commit fraud during the police recruitment exam. During investigation, the Noida STF received a tip-off on Thursday about the presence of some suspects in Jhansi district," Additional SP (UP STF) Rajkumar Mishra said.

A case was registered against the two at Nawabad Police Station under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) of the IPC, the STF said. "The Noida unit in a tie-up with the Jhansi Police's crime branch reached the police lines area of Jhansi where the suspects were rounded up and arrested while they waited to meet their third associate for the paper," Mishra said.

Paper leaks

In Mau, police arrested five people who were allegedly trying to take money from the aspirants in lieu of giving them answers to the questions. In a statement, Mau Superintendent of Police Avinash Pandey said the arrested persons have been identified as Amit Singh, Sonu alias Siddhartha Kumar, Sunil Rajbhar and Ram Karan -- all residents of Mau district -- and Shatrughan Yadav, a resident of Ghazipur district.

Eight people were arrested in Ghazipur district. Ghazipur Superintendent of Police Omveer Singh told reporters that an aspirant had informed the police about the accused. They were arrested from a house in Mirdad Pur village under Nonhara police station which they had taken on rent. They accused were allegedly roaming around villages in search of gullible candidates and promising them to help in the exam in lieu of Rs 7-8 lakh, police said. They were allegedly taking Rs 1 lakh as advance from each aspirant. The police officer said a sum of Rs 6 lakh has been recovered from the accused. The accused have been sent to jail, he added.

According to the STF, Monu Kumar had cleared Class 12 in 2010 and after that got selected for the Indian Navy. He underwent naval training in Odisha's Chilka area but left it during training. In 2015, he enrolled for a BA course in Delhi and stayed in Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar area and also started preparing for SSC examination. During his stay there, he came in contact with people allegedly involved in paper leaks, the agency said. Monu Kumar is found to have worked with a group which was involved in the TET paper leak two years ago, among other exams in the state, the STF said.