Five arrested for helping applicants cheat in exam

NAIB TEHSILDAR RECRUITMENT

NABBED IN PATIALA

PATIALA : Patiala police on Tuesday arrested five persons for allegedly helping candidates cheat in the written exam for naib tehsildar recruitment.

Results of the test, which was conducted by the Punjab Public Service Commission, Patiala, in May, were declared on October 6.

Accused Navraaj Chaudhary, Gurpreet Singh and Jatinder Singh are from Punjab’s Patiala, while Sonu Kumar and Varjinder Singh belong to Haryana, Patiala range IG Mukhwinder Singh Chhina said.

“The accused revealed during the investigation that they provided GSM devices with SIM cards and tiny Bluetooth earplugs for seamless connectivity. The candidates brought the GSM devices inside the exam centres by concealing them in shoes and socks,” he added.

“During the exam, the candidates relied on signals such as coughing or tapping to indicate the booklet series. The accused and their associates later dictated the correct answers to the candidates,” the cop said.

He added that dummy candidates also appeared in the exams purely for the purpose of capturing pictures of question paper through wireless cameras and send them to predetermined persons.

Seven to 10 more persons are involved in this racket and they will be arrested soon, Chhina said. The police have also recovered 11 GSM devices, seven mini Bluetooth earplugs, 12 mobiles, one laptop, and two pen drives from the accused.

The FIR has been registered under sections 419, 420, 465, 468, 471, and 120B of the IPC and 66D of the IT Act.

It also mentions that the accused had been running coaching centres in Punjab and Haryana to prepare job aspirants for recruitment exams.

The recruitment had run into controversy after several leaders of opposition parties, including Sukhpal Singh Khaira, raised questions over the results of the written test.

They alleged that several toppers of this exam had failed to clear other recruitment tests.

Vigilance bureau has already launched a probe into the matter.

The candidates brought GSM devices provided by the accused inside the exam centres by concealing them in shoes and socks. MUKHWINDER SINGH CHHINA, IG, Patiala range