After Bluetooth cheating, now fake emails aim to derail Bengaluru’s army recruitment, 1 candidate arrested

“The accused sent fake emails posing as a recruitment authority or official to spread false information and mislead candidates,” a police officer said.

According to a complaint filed by Col Jyothirlingam S S, Security Officer to the Commandant and Managing Director of the 515 Army Base Workshop, the recruitment process was scheduled to start on Friday and run until February 15.

Admit cards had already been issued to all eligible candidates, and an official email detailing the schedule was sent from the authorised email ID on January 12.

However, on February 7, a candidate, Dilip Kumar Meena, informed a Civil Defence employee at the unit that he had received an email stating that the recruitment had been postponed from February 15 to February 22 due to “technical reasons”. The email was sent from a fake ID that closely resembled the official address.

A preliminary inquiry revealed that several candidates had received similar emails. The police suspect the intention was to mislead aspirants and prevent them from attending the recruitment process.

Terming it a serious and deliberate attempt to interfere with the recruitment procedure, officials said the unit immediately issued a clarification to all candidates, warning them about the fake email and reiterating that the recruitment would proceed as scheduled from February 13 to 15.

Based on the complaint, a First Information Report (FIR) has been registered under sections 66(c) (identity theft) and 66(d) (cheating by personation using computer resources) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Further investigation is underway.

On February 10, the Bengaluru police arrested 18 candidates from Haryana for allegedly using sophisticated electronic devices to cheat during an Army recruitment examination held on February 8.

The police said that preliminary findings indicate the candidates at the 515 Army Base Workshop in Halasuru allegedly photographed the question paper and relayed it to accomplices outside, who in turn dictated answers through Bluetooth-linked devices during the test.