‘Gang lay its hands on papers in transit, through courier’

EOU SAID 279 PEOPLE, INCLUDING 89 WOMEN, HAVE BEEN ARRESTED IN THE CASE SO FAR

The gang involved in “leaking” the question papers of the third phase of teachers’ recruitment examination (TRE) in Bihar had breached the security chain from the printing press to the transportation level, according to the Economic Offence Unit (EOU), which is probing the case.

The examination, conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), was held on March 15 at 415 centres in the state.

“The arrested accused have confessed that they have been involved with such malpractices for various exams and they did it for TRE-3 also. They said that they first collect information about the press where question papers are prints and then the mode of transportation. Then they lure some officials with money to lay hands on question papers during transit. Once the questions are scanned, they are provided to ‘solvers’ and from them, they reach the targeted group, who are kept at a predetermined place and made to mug the answers,” said additional director general (ADG) of police N H Khan, who heads the EOU.

According to the ADG, the accused admitted that they got to know of transportation of the question papers through DTDC Courier and some of the vehicles hired were of Kaimur resident Srinivas Choudhary. “Choudhary often provides his vehicles to logistic companies. The gang got in touch with Rahul Paswan, a clerk with the Patna-based Zenith Logistics Company Ltd courier company. He was paid to manage Choudhary,” Khan said.

On March 3, Paswan, in connivance with Choudhary, planned to scan the question papers while in transit from Patna to Nawada. “As soon as the question papers were despatched from the DTDC courier for Nawada in Choudhary’s vehicle, the driver, Rambhawan Paswan, who was also paid a good sum, stopped at Buddha Family Restaurant at Nagarnausa in Nalanda, where Dr Shiv Kumar and his father Sanjiv Kumar, owner of the restaurant Awadhesh Kumar and several others of the gang were present,” he said.

Khan said the gang used specialised tools, which have also been recovered, to open the boxes carrying question papers in the knowledge of restaurant owner and scanned them. “Soon after that, the questions reached the predetermined destination, Kohinoor Banquet in Hazaribagh, where the candidates were waiting with ‘solvers’. Each beneficiary was charged Rs 10-12 lakh,” the officer said.

The EoU said 279 people, including 89 women, have been arrested in the case so far.

Around 3.75 lakh aspirants had taken TRE-3.

The EOU had registered an FIR on March 16 and a team raided several places in Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) on March 15 and arrested 266 people in connection with the alleged paper leak.