Political storm in Maharashtra over question paper for SRPF recruitment exam

Mumbai: A major political issue erupted in Maharashtra after it emerged that 85 of the 100 questions for police recruitment were copy-pasted from the study material and sample question paper of a Pune-based private coaching institution.

The development is raising serious concerns over fairness, transparency, integrity of the examination and possible collusion of officials.

The coaching institution in question is Pune-based Maharashtra Academy and its notes and model questions were published through Maharashtra Publication Academy.

The written examination for recruitment to the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and Police Constables (Group 5 at Daund) was conducted across the state on Saturday.

Nearly 4,000 aspirants appeared for the 90-minute, 100-mark objective test question paper.

The institute’s chief, Gyanelshwar Bangar, has distanced himself from the controversy and assured cooperation with any probe.

NCP (SP) Working President and Baramati MP Supriya Sule and Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar flagged the issue.

“Many children toil relentlessly for any government job. These children dedicate their precious years to exam preparation. Therefore, these exams must be fair and free from suspicion. However, if such incidents come to light, it raises serious questions about the credibility of the examinations,” said Sule.

“It is understandable if one or two questions from a private coaching class's sample paper appear in the original exam, but the miracle of as many as 85 questions appearing demands a thorough investigation, as per the students' demand. I request the government to please conduct a thorough investigation into this matter,” she added.

“The government is literally playing with the lives of the youth taking competitive exams in the state. Now, this has started to become blatantly obvious. The written exam for SRPF Group 5 at Daund in the Maharashtra Police Recruitment has turned into a complete mockery of transparency. Even though expert officers were expected to prepare the question paper, a whopping 85 out of 100 questions were lifted verbatim from a private publisher's book. So, was this an exam or an open-book test from that book?” asked Wadettiwar.

"This isn't a mistake—it's a clear sign of the system collapsing. When something like this happens in a sensitive process like police recruitment, it raises the question: Is there a chain already linked from within somewhere? From the government, only announcements and advertisements. In reality, the games with the youth's future continue unabated. As many as 3,977 young people gave this exam after putting in honest hard work."

"Now, the government must decide whether to save those whose dreams are being doused like this or to punish those responsible. Otherwise, "transparent recruitment" will remain just a word on posters,” he added.

As the issue spread like wildfire, Bangar said, “We have no connection whatsoever with the authorities conducting the examination. The similarities, if any, could be due to repetition of questions over the years, which we compile for students…let there be a probe, we are willing to cooperate with any inquiry.”