15 academies involved in Army exam paper leak: Cops

THANE: The police have found 15 more academies to be involved in leaking the questions for the Army Recruitment Board exam, which was to be held on Sunday. According to the police, the 15 institutions were in continuous contact with a Nagpur-based academy — the epicentre of the racket.

The police are now taking down the details of all the academies that are spread across Maharashtra.

Last Sunday, the crime branch arrested 18 people and detained 350 students from, Pune, Goa and Nagpur for leaking the questions for the exam.

The Thane crime branch took action based on a tip-off by a local man, who runs tutorial classes. Theexamwastobeheldat9amon Sunday, but has been postponed to next month.

Students were given the questions and were made to practice writing answers at various venues in Pune, Goa and Nagpur.

The police said the students were caught in simultaneous raids while in the middle of practice in halls in Pune, Nagpur and the terrace of a bar near Vagator beach at Goa.

The police said the accused were paid Rs4-5 lakh for each leaked paper.

Meanwhile, a team from the Thane crime branch has gone to Nagpur to pick up three accused – army clerks Nigamkumar Pandey, Dharam Singh and Ravindra Kumar, who will be produced in court on Friday.

“These three people have played a vital role in the scam and have been handed over to us by the Army in Nagpur” said a police officer from Thane crime branch.

A senior police inspector said, “The fraudsters used to run classes in remote areas of Maharashtra and also along its border so that residents from high-end societies will not be able to approach them. The Nagpur- based academy used to lure stu dents from other local classes with minimal fees”.

There were agents who used to approach the students and lured them with the prospect of good jobs after the exams.

The police have been noting down all those who appeared for the exam in the past four years and will send a list to the Army headquarters.