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 and UP police sources confirm that the paper leak happened from the warehouse of the transportation company. The transportation company, TCI is headquartered in Gurugram. 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. UP CM Yogi Adityanath had then scrapped the examination and had said he would not tolerate any injustice to youngsters of UP. 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 UP. 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 UP, this doctor who has now been identified as Dr Shubham Mandal came to Gujarat on February 5 and 8. He landed at 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.
The UP Gang
The brains behind this were Ravi Attri, Abhishek Shukla and Ravi Mishra of UP. They have been involved in paper leaks in UP 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 UP government earlier maintained that the examination paper leak was fake news that had begun from social media, they were compelled to take cognizance and take action. The UP Public Service and Recruitment Board chairperson Renuka Mishra was sacked. The UP government had to do this after screenshots of the leaked examination paper were posted on X (formerly Twitter). The CBI then got into the picture. Abhishek Mishra, Shivam Giri and Rohit Pandey were then arrested. Police investigations later found the involvement of Mahendra Sharma and a Delhi constable Vikram Pahal.
Gujarat’s Dubious Paper Leak Record
According to Manish Doshi and Hiren Banker, two Congress leaders, 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 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 10 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.
The UP 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.
Further investigations are on.
