The latest probe by PuneтАЩs Pimpri Chinchwad police that has brought to light malpractices in 14 different government recruitment processes and has seen 56 arrests to date is yet another instance of how organised rackets operate to rig recruitment exams by misusing the loopholes in the system.
The neighbouring jurisdiction of Pune City Police too has been probing frauds in five such processes and have arrested over 80 persons since October last year.
In an eight-month discreet probe, the Pimpri Chinchwad police have unearthed largescale malpractices in government recruitment processes in Maharashtra in which dummy candidates and hidden electronic devices were used to rig the exams. A total of 56 persons have been arrested till now and 74 more, which include candidates, dummy candidates, middlemen and racketeers, booked.
The probe into the alleged malpractices began in January this year when three candidates were then caught in the process of recruitment in the Pimpri Chinchwad police force. It was found that dummy candidates had appeared for the physical test while the three used hidden electronic devices for the written exam.
This led to an extensive and discreet probe by Pimpri Chinchwad police that comprised 20 investigation teams. The investigation spread to over seven districts тАУ Pune, Ahmednagar, Beed, Aurangabad, Jalna, Nagpur and Amravati. It busted six organised rackets involved in rigging recruitment examinations that included those for the police force, State Reserve Police Force, state health department services and Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) among others. With the latest five arrests on August 22, the police have now arrested 56 persons since January.
The Cyber Crime cell of the neighbouring Pune City Police have also been looking into the interconnected cases since last October when five different Maharashtra government recruitment tests were compromised following an unholy nexus among senior government office-bearers, middlemen, private players and candidates. The cases include those of paper leaks in two state health department exams of Group C and D, tampering with the assessment of papers in TET for two years of 2018 and 2019-20 and a question paper leak for recruitment in Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).
So far, five interconnecting probes have been carried out in which 80 persons including senior government officials, several middlemen, people from private entities contracted for recruitment processes, coaching class owners and candidates were arrested and illegal assets worth over multiple crores of rupees were seized.
Besides exposing the unholy nexus in the system, the investigation revealed nine different methods used by the suspects to tamper with the examination system. The suspects have made Pune police aware of a countrywide network of racketeers involved in paper leaks across India and of a training centre that gives tutorials on methods of leaking the exam papers.
In March, the Pune Police charge-sheeted 15 persons including IAS officer Sushil Khodwekar in a case in which the results of over 7,800 candidates appearing for the statewide 2019-20 Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) were tampered with either by altering the answer sheets or by giving fake passing certificates. The government has recently disqualified these candidates and has initiated action against them.
Earlier in February and March 2021, the Pune police probed a question paper leak in the Army recruitment exam following input from Military Intelligence. The sleuths from Military Intelligence of the Army conducted a joint operation with the Pune policeтАЩs Crime Branch wing and seized question papers for a nationwide exam slated to be conducted on February 28, 2021. The primary probe revealed that the leaked paper was a 100 percent match to the original question paper, following which the Army cancelled the entire exam. Pune police arrested one Lieutenant Colonel, two officers of Major rank, one serving soldier and four ex-servicemen and other civilians in connection with the question paper leak.
Days after the leak came to light, the Army had said that the existing system of the recruitment process will be made more foolproof and robust by incorporating the findings of a joint investigation by Army authorities and Maharashtra police.
Senior officers in charge of the investigations said that serious lacunae in the recruitment processes were successfully used by the racketeers with the help of insiders. They suggested the introduction of biometric systems, video surveillance and monitoring and stricter checks with the agency that handles the exam process. An officer said that there needs to be a regulatory mechanism for the coaching classes and a better screening process and monitoring of the technology provider companies.
