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In an investigation that lasted eight months, Pimpri-Chinchwad Police has unearthed large-scale malpractices in 14 different government recruitment processes, in which dummy candidates and hidden electronic devices were used to rig the exams. Police have arrested a total of 56 persons till now and have booked 74 more, including candidates, dummy candidates, middlemen and racketeers.
The investigation into the ‘malpractices’ began in January this year from the then ongoing process of recruitment in Pimpri-Chinchwad Police. After the written examination in November and physical examination in December last year, 1,070 candidates who were selected were called for document verification.
During the scrutiny of papers, discrepancies were found in one candidate’s photos and signatures. Sustained questioning revealed that a dummy candidate had appeared for his physical examination while for the written exam, he used hidden electronic devices. Through his probe, the police got to know of two more candidates who had resorted to similar malpractices. All three candidates were arrested.
This led to an extensive probe by Pimpri-Chinchwad Police, which comprised 20 investigation teams and spanned across seven districts, including Pune, Ahmednagar, Beed, Aurangabad, Jalna, Nagpur and Amravati. “The investigation has busted six organised rackets involved in various malpractices in government recruitment examinations,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Kakasaheb Dole on Wednesday.
The investigation soon expanded to 14 different recruitment processes of various government departments. Police have arrested 56 persons since January, with the latest set of five arrests taking place on August 22. They have also identified 74 more suspects. Officials said the findings of these probes have already been communicated to the departments concerned, which were conducting these processes in 2021 and this year.
These recruitment processes include recruitment for various police teams, the State Reserve Police Force, state Health Department services and Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), among others.
Police officials said the 56 arrested and 74 wanted suspects are mainly linked to Pimpri-Chinchwad Police recruitment, but they have gathered leads and evidence on malpractices in 13 more processes after probing the involvement of the same set of suspects. The details of the probe were shared with the media for the first time on Wednesday.
Inspector Macchindra Pandit, who was part of the investigation team, said the arrested and wanted suspects in the case include the candidates, the dummy candidates, middlemen and touts, persons providing and facilitating use of hidden electronic devices, people looking after money exchange and the main racketeers. As many as 51 persons have been chargesheeted in the probe till now. Of the 56 arrested, 26 are candidates who appeared for the Pimpri- Chinchwad Police recruitment process.
During the eight-month-long probe, police teams recovered 76 cell phones, 66 electronic devices and phone-based applications, walkie-talkies used by the suspects to communicate with each, over 100 bluetooth ear buds and a large number of clothing and inner wear used by the suspects to carry these devices into the exam halls.
