122 arrested in 3 days for ‘fraud’ linked to UP police constable recruitment exam

The highest number of arrests were reported from Etah district, where 15 people were arrested. The second highest arrests were reported from Prayagraj, where nine people were arrested, followed by Ghazipur, where a total of eight people were held.

Director General of Police Prashant Kumar in a statement said that the examinations were held in an “efficient manner” on Saturday. “Senior officers in the districts were instructed in advance to do rounds of the examination centres. All the centres for the examination had CCTVs to keep vigil,” said Kumar, who also went for rounds at examination centres in Lucknow on Saturday.

On February 12, Kumar gave detailed instructions in a video conference to all senior police officers in zones, ranges and districts. “The officers were told to hold the examination by ensuring that no unfair means are used,” said Kumar.

The DGP added that several methods were adopted by the police to ensure that the examinations were free of cheating. Methods such as face recognition, biometric verification, Aadhaar authentication and usage of jammers to block usage of any phones, Bluetooth devices and Internet were used, he said.

Out of the 122 arrests, 22 were made by UP police’s Special Task Force (STF). The STF’s team in Lucknow under Additional Superintendent of Police, STF, Amit Kumar Naagar made four arrests from Kanpur.

The accused were attempting to leak the question paper for the examination. Similarly, by the team of STF Lucknow Deputy SP Vimal Kumar Singh, six people were arrested from Prayagraj for indulging in fraudulent activities. The team headed by Lucknow STF Deputy SP Lal Pratap Singh arrested one person from Ghazipur district.

A team of STF’s field unit Gorakhpur arrested two persons, who were solving the examination for a candidate.  A team of STF’s field unit in Gautam Buddh Nagar arrested three people from Hathras district in western Uttar Pradesh.