Police arrest 4, bust inter-state paper leak gang

New Delhi:

The Delhi Police on Saturday claimed to have busted an inter-state paper leak gang with the arrest of four people.

Officials said those arrested have been identified as Rohit (23), Love Kumar (26), Himanshu (23) and Vaishali (26), all residents of Haryana.

They said police got a tip-off that some illegal practice was going on at Om and Chander Associates Examination Centre in Naraina Industrial Area during the examination for the post of forest guard.

On February 4, police conducted a raid at the centre and nabbed Rohit who was using a mobile phone for solving his online paper. Thereafter, a case was registered at Naraina police station, a senior police officer said.

“During investigation, WhatsApp data of the seized mobile phone was retrieved and analyzed, following which three more people were arrested from Delhi and Haryana,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Urvija Goel said.

Interrogation revealed Vaishali to be the kingpin of the gang. She, along with her boyfriend Anil Sharma, brother Love and other associates, used to run a racket related to online examinations for various government jobs, Goel said.

The gang operated in various states, including Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar-Pradesh and Delhi, particularly in rural areas, she said.

Two uniforms of Delhi Police were also recovered from them. Vaishali used to pose as an IPS officer and two of her associates used to pose as sub-inspector and head constable of the Delhi Police to impress people, the DCP said.

The accused used to charge around Rs 10 to 25 lakh, depending upon the nature of the job, from candidates in order to pass the examination, Goel said.

Usually an employee of private examination centre helped to provide a mobile phone to their candidate, she said.

The dummy candidate used to send a picture of the paper to the kingpin. Then “solvers” solved the paper within a few minutes and circulated the answer-key to their examination centres in different states, Goel said.

The bank statement of accused persons revealed heavy cash transactions in 2021. Efforts are being made to nab their associates. Links of candidates who have cleared the examination by unfair means with the help of the gang are being investigated, the officer added.