JOIN US12 held for organised cheating in RPF exam
Twelve candidates who appeared in the Gorakhpur Railway Recruitment Board’s examination for the post of constables in Railway Protection Force have been arrested for organised cheating during the national-level written test held on Sunday, police said.
Six of them were arrested by Delhi Police crime branch. They had smuggled mobile phones into an examination centre in Rohini Sector 20 and solved questions with the help of answer keys sent through text messages. The arrested persons have been identified as Rahul Mavi (20), Tapish (24), Sunny (22), Robin Kumar Nain (24), Sohanpal (22) and Tap ender (26).
Local police arrested six more candidates at two outer-Delhi centres, in Prashant Vihar and Kanjhawala.
“They came in contact with different sources and paid a minimum of Rs 3.5 lakh. The magnitude of the scam is likely to be in crores,” said Ravindra Yadav, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime and Railways).
The mastermind assured the aspirants that the answer keys of all four sets of question papers would be provided before the beginning of the examination through text messages.
The racket was busted on information that organised cheating was being planned at Shri Tula Ram Public School. The exam was to begin at 11 am and end at 12.30 pm. Accordingly, a raid was planned.
“A trap was laid at the beginning of the exam, and six persons were apprehended at the examination venue,” Yadav said.
A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act has been filed with the crime branch police station. Technical surveillance and an in-depth investigation is being conducted to identify the mastermind behind the racket.
“Preliminary investigation shows that this is a widespread racket, which is likely to have
multiple sources of leakage of papers,” Yadav said.
The written examination was objective in type, wherein 120 questions were to be attempted within 90 minutes. Any matriculation-passed candidate was eligible to sit for the exam. The national-level examination is being conducted in batches at an all-India level, except in Karnataka and Meghalaya. The examination was already conducted for two batches on June 16 and 23.
On Sunday, the exam was conducted simultaneously at 350 centres across Delhi, and 1.8 lakh candidates appeared for it. The national-level figures for venues and candidates who appeared for the exam are still being ascertained.
The national-level vacancies for recruitment of constables with RPF were revised from 11,000 to 17,200, and were under process since 2011.
Railway Ministry spokesperson Anil Saxena told Deccan Herald, “Invigilators of the railway department handed over the culprits to the police. We are waiting for the report of the police. Appropriate action will be taken after it is received.”