E-Paper
IELTS racket busted in Sahnewal, three held, kingpin absconding
The accused used to stick electronic devices under the IELTS candidates benches and then help them solve the paper; according to the Sahnewal police, they used to charge ₹2 lakh to ₹3 lakh from each aspirant who managed to get 6 bands or above in the test.
An IELTS centre owner was booked and three others arrested for their alleged involvement in a racket to help foreign aspirants crack the exam with the help of advanced electronic devices, in Sahnewal.
The accused had allegedly helped some aspirants in clearing the IELTS test held in Khanna on Saturday. According to the police, they used to charge ₹2 lakh to ₹3 lakh from each aspirant who managed to get 6 bands or above in the test.
Police have recovered 12 electronic devices from the accused Dilbagh Singh of Rode village in Moga, Harsangat Singh and Jaspreet Singh, residents of Sangatpura village of Moga. The kingpin, Gurbhej Singh, who runs Master IELTS and Immigration Centre in Muktsar, is yet to be arrested. The involvement of the employees of the company which conducts the tests is also being probed.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, City 2) Suhail Qasim Mir said the Sahnewal police arrested the accused following a tip-off and recovered five electronic SIM-enabled devices, seven bluetooth devices, five mobile phones, a Maruti Suzuki Swift car, answers of IELTS exams written on a paper and coloured photocopy of the passport of a man named Babbalpreet Singh, who is one of the aspirants.
Cops are probing if Babbalpreet had appeared for the exam held on Saturday.
Sahnewal police station in-charge inspector Amandeep Brar said Gurbhej had managed to get the questions of the test and sent the solved paper to Dilbagh Singh, who in turn used to communicate it to the aspirants sitting in the exam hall through the devices hidden under their benches.
The SHO further added, “Gurbhej used to provide bluetooth earpieces, which they used to refer to as makkhi. With the help of employees of IDP International, the company which conducted the tests, Gurbhej managed to send the electronic SIM devices into the hall. They would stick the devices under the benches. Gurbhej Singh and his aides used to solve the test while sitting outside the centre,” said the SHO.
“The accused confessed that they had helped some aspirants in Ludhiana, Khanna, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala and Moga to cheat. They also helped aspirants of appearing for competitive exams and other tests to secure government jobs, with the same modus operandi,” said the SHO.
A case under Sections 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 66 and 66D of Information and Technology Act has been registered against the accused at Sahnewal police station. More arrests are expected in the case.
