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Uttarakhand STF busts plan of cheating through Bluetooth in Forest Guard exam
The Uttarakhand police said they have arrested a coaching centre operator and his accomplice who works as an assistant professor in a college
The Uttarakhand police’s special task force (STF) on Saturday busted a plan to facilitate cheating through Bluetooth devices in the Forest Guard exam scheduled to take place on Sunday and arrested two people from Haridwar, a senior official said.
The accused were identified as Mukesh Saini, a coaching centre operator and a resident of Haridwar’s Manglaur, and his accomplice Rachit Pundir, an assistant professor at a college and a resident of Roorkee.
Senior superintendent of police (STF) Ayush Agarwal said they had received secret inputs about some people planning to facilitate cheating through Bluetooth devices to candidates to appear in the Forest Guard exam on Sunday in exchange for money.
“We received secret inputs that Haridwar’s MS Coaching Centre operator Mukesh Saini, who has gone to jail for cheating in government recruitments in the past too, and is a nakal mafia, has a plan to facilitate cheating to candidates in Forest Guard exam in exchange for money. On this, we raided the coaching centre located in Gurukul Narsan and arrested its operator Mukesh Saini and his accomplice Rachit Pundir,” the SSP said.
“Saini had taken ₹4 lakh each from 15 candidates for cheating in the Forest Guard exam. In advance, the accused took ₹50,000 to 1 lakh from candidates. The candidates had been distributed Bluetooth devices and given them instructions on how to use it,” he said.
“Pundir made a plan to get himself appointed as invigilator at an exam centre in the upcoming Forest Guard exam. He would have sent the question paper to Saini through WhatsApp and other mediums. Thereafter, Saini along with accomplices would have solved the question paper to reveal their answers to candidates appearing in the exam through Bluetooth devices distributed to them,” he said.
At the time of writing the report, a case was being registered in this regard at the Haridwar’s Manglaur police station.
The STF also recovered the Bluetooth devices to be used for cheating, Agarwal said.
On Mukesh Saini’s criminal past, the SSP said, “Mukesh Saini has gone to jail several times for cheating in the past too and is known as nakal mafia in the region. Candidates who desire to pass the government exams through illegal means remain in touch with him. In the Forest Guard recruitment exam conducted in February 2020, the accused along with his accomplices had facilitated cheating at a large scale. However, the accused was acquitted in the case.”
