The leaked examination paper and answer keys in the police recruitment examination of Uttar Pradesh has a strong Gujarat connection. The paper was printed in Gujarat. Uttar Pradesh police sources confirm that the leak happened from the warehouse of the transportation company, Transport Corporation of India (TCI), which is headquartered in Gurugram. Moreover, the Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh has confirmed that the paper leak happened from Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
The constable recruitment examination was held on February 17 and 18, with two shifts per day. Around 48 lakh candidates had applied for 60,244 constable posts. According to police, as many as 246 people have been arrested so far for ‘fraudulent activities’ during the recruitment exam. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath had then scrapped the examination and had said he would not tolerate any injustice to youngsters of the state. He had emphasised that paper leaks are a national sin.
Gujarat connection
The question paper for the constable recruitment was printed in Ahmedabad. After printing, the papers were to be sent in a sealed manner in a truck to Uttar Pradesh. The company assigned this task was TCI which is headquartered in Gurugram. The police now confirm that two staffers of this transportation company along with a doctor broke into the sealed truck, scanned the examination paper and forwarded it to their gang members.
A week before the examination in Uttar Pradesh, this doctor who has now been identified as Dr Shubham Mandal came to Gujarat on February 5 and 8. He landed at the Ahmedabad airport. Two transport company employees — Shivam Giri and Rohit Pandey — were familiar with the warehouse and their company truck. They entered the warehouse and identified the truck.
Also read: 48 Lakh Aspirants For 67,000 Jobs: How Uttar Pradesh Conducted the Constable Recruitment Exam
The Uttar Pradesh gang
The brains behind this were Ravi Attri, Abhishek Shukla and Ravi Mishra of Uttar Pradesh. They have been involved in paper leaks in the state before also. They were reportedly in touch with 1500 aspirants. These examination aspirants were taken to a resort in Manesar where they were given answer keys. In a sophisticated manner, these aspirants were taught to mug up the answer keys. Vikram Pahal, a constable with Delhi police was working with the gang. He has also been arrested.
How the scam broke out
Though the Uttar Pradesh government earlier maintained that the examination paper leak was fake news that had begun from social media, they were compelled to take cognisance and take action. The Uttar Pradesh public service and recruitment board chairperson Renuka Mishra was sacked. The Uttar Pradesh government had to do this after screenshots of the leaked examination paper were posted on X (formerly called Twitter). The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) then got into the picture. Subsequently, Abhishek Mishra, Shivam Giri and Rohit Pandey were arrested. Police investigations later found the involvement of Mahendra Sharma and a Delhi constable Vikram Pahal.
Gujarat’s dubious paper leak record
According to Congress leaders Manish Doshi and Hiren Banker, at least 14 public service examination papers have been leaked in Gujarat in the last five years. They told Vibes of India, “Gujarat is the epicentre of all paper leaks in India.”
Banker and Doshi told Vo! that the following examination papers were leaked in Gujarat.
Details of paper leaks in Gujarat:
- 2014: GPSC Chief Officer’s Paper
- 2015: Talati Paper
- 2016: Talati exam paper conducted by District Panchayat in Gandhinagar, Modasa, Surendranagar district
- 2018: TAT -Teacher Paper
- 2018: Mukhya Sevika Paper
- 2018: Nayab Chitnis Paper
- 2018: LRD-Lorakrakshak Dal
- 2019: Non-Secretariat Clerk
- 2020: Government Recruitment Exams (Corona Era)
- 2021: Head Clerk
- 2021: DGVCL Vidyut Asst
- 2021: Sub Auditor
- 2022: Forest Guard
- 2023: Junior Clerk.
Gujarat’s paper leak prohibition act
Following numerous paper leaks and disillusionment of candidates appearing for various government examinations in Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Gujarat introduced the Gujarat Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Methods) Bill, 2023. In February 2023, the Gujarat assembly unanimously passed a bill to check paper leak in government recruitment examinations with a significant modification pointed out by then senior Congress legislator Arjun Modhwadia. The original Bill had excluded school and college examinations from the purview of the Act. The new law has a stipulation of ten years of imprisonment and minimum one crore of penalty for those involved in this heinous act of leaking papers.
Modhwadia joined BJP this month to work under the dynamic vision and leadership of Prime Minister Modi.
Also read: UP Police Recruitment Exam Cancelled: BJP Yields to Pressure Amid Paper Leak Allegations, Protests
The Uttar Pradesh exam paper leak case progress
The police arrested six members of the gang from Meerut on March 5 and during interrogation they revealed the name of Mahendra Sharma of Dhatrath village under Pillukhera police station of Jind district in Haryana.
A joint team of STF and Kankerkhera police raided a place in Jind and arrested Sharma. He told the police that he worked in a shop and Delhi police constable Vikram Pahal, who was also a resident of his village, approached him on February 16 and took him to a resort in Gurugram. He said the UP police recruitment exam paper would be made available there and asked him to help in his work for ₹2 lakh.
Mahendra told the police that 300 to 400 applicants were already present in the resort and one Gaurav Choudhary arrived there along with more applicants. He had a meeting with the gathering of approximately 1500 applicants. Vikram Pahal was present at the resort. Young boys and girls were made to sit in a row, offered meals and told to mug up the answers. Each candidate was okay to pay “fees” of Rs seven lac each. The gang was so confident of their paper leak operation that they had told the students to pay seven lacs after the examination. This resort paper leak took place 48 hours before the government examination.
This article was originally published on Vibes of India.
