Constable exam paper leak: Police identify source, 27 held

“A pan-India module of racketeers involved in leaking the question paper for recruitment of constables to the Delhi Police in 2014 was busted with the arrest of 27 persons from across India. It was finally identified that the papers were leaked from the printing press. Two laptops and 28 mobile phones and incriminating documents have been recovered,” Additional CP Ashok Chand said.

During investigation, police identified a racket in Riwari, Haryana, whose kingpin was based in Bihar. Investigation revealed that some persons from Bihar had brought the question paper to Rewari. Following the lead, police arrested one Vikas. He disclosed that one Amar had procured the question paper. “Amar was apprehended on Monday from Minto Road in Delhi. His questioning led the team to the main source of the leak — the printing press. Gorakh Nath, an employee of the press, had procured the paper and given it to Amar. Nath was also arrested,” Chand said.

Nath reportedly told police that he was employed in the cutting section, where the question papers were being cut and sorted. He managed to sneak out a copy after hiding it in his shoe, police were told.

The questioning of the accused revealed that those who procured the question paper had sources in the printing press. After sneaking out the question paper, the accused persons took the help of their associates to identify the exam to which the paper was related to.

“Once the accused identified the exam, the buyers were arranged using a well-integrated network of touts and coaching institutes. These touts charged between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 6 lakh for providing candidates with the question paper and its answers,” Chand said.

“Thus, the syndicate is a conglomerate of coaching centres, touts, school teachers, property dealers, clients, people who identified the exam papers, solvers. All are well-educated and connected since it is a highly lucrative racket,” Chand said.

The racket had come to fore on May 24 this year after a constable noticed one Monu dictating answers to a candidate from a paper slip. When the constable questioned him, he put the paper in his mouth and started chewing it. The constable overpowered him and took him into custody. When the answers on the slip were matched with the exam question paper for the post of a Delhi Police constable, they tallied. The Crime Branch was informed about the leak and an investigation was initiated.

Since the answers for the question paper was being shared via messages and other forms of communication technology, it became difficult for police to trace the source of the leak.

“Initial investigation led to the belief that the module was operating out of Delhi-NCR. Further probe revealed that the Delhi-NCR module was divided into three sub-modules, one based in Najafgarh, second in Rohtak and a third in Rewari. The racketeers were all linked to a UP-based module. In all 27 persons were arrested,” Chand said.