Chennai: 29 people from Haryana arrested for malpractices in Defence Services test

Based on the report, a case was registered by the Nandambakkam police under Section 66 of the IT Act and other relevant sections.

Explaining the modus operandi, a senior official investigating the incident said the electronic item used for malpractices is a very tiny item which is assembled by a few brokers in Delhi and other areas.

“All these people who were caught hail from the same village in Haryana. Candidates need to just pass Class X to be eligible to appear for this test so all these youths are not that highly qualified and the brokers make use of this and misguide them. The device is a very tiny one which is easy to conceal inside the ear. These are assembled in New Delhi, Haryana and other areas. The exam was supposed to begin at 3 o’clock and as soon as the presiding officer noted a person having something inside his ear, the rest of the candidates were checked and 28 people were caught. Based on the complaint from the Army school, an FIR was registered,” the officer said.

The officer said that they even checked the devices but nothing was working and added they are in the processes of sending these devices to the Cyber Forensic Laboratory for further analysis.

“We brought all the accused candidates to the station. They knew only Hindi and none of them were able to converse in English and we found it very difficult to conduct the enquiry. They kept changing their statement from where they brought the device and who gave them but we managed to gather some information. The probe is on, these candidates were let on bail later that day. They are disqualified from writing the exam,” he added.