Three arrested in Uttarakhand for tampering with OMR sheets of IELTS examination

The SSP said that the accused had taken the candidates along with them in a car who were given the OMR sheets of the exam after taking it out from the suitcase who then corrected the mistakes

Uttarakhand police’s special task force (STF) arrested three persons for allegedly facilitating tampering with OMR sheets of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam, a police official said.

The accused in the custody of STF. (HT photo)

The three arrested accused were identified, police said.

Senior superintendent of police (STF) Ayush Agarwal said, “Those arrested have links to IELTS coaching centres and we will examine their role in the exam.”

“A transporter from Delhi, named Kuldeep Singh, last month had complained to the STF headquarters regarding irregularities in the IELTS exam. Besides that, the STF had also recovered complaints from some students who appeared in the exam. They alleged that the answer/OMR sheets of the exam have been tampered with. It came to our knowledge that the IELTS exam is conducted by IDP in India”, he said.

It came to light in the initial investigation that IDP had conducted the IELTS exam at NJ Portico, located at Ripsana Bridge on February 25 in which 171 candidates had appeared.

“After the exam, OMR sheets were given to Blue Dart, Patel Nagar in a suitcase to transport them to IDP Gurugram office. On February 25 at 11:15pm, the suitcase containing OMR sheets and bearing a digital lock was sent to Delhi through courier service. The Blue Dart received a complaint regarding tampering with the locker of the suitcase. The courier company subsequently shared the information with IDP. Both companies in this regard said they will take legal proceedings. But nothing happened”, he said.

“On the examination of bank details, it came to light that the accused Jitendra, the driver of the courier service vehicle, received money through UPI from a person named Saminder from Ludhiana. Saminder used to come to Dehradun on the IELTS exam days. He was in touch with Dehradun-based transporters for renting commercial vehicles. When the IDP representative Jaydeep Singh was questioned, he informed that OMR sheets of 15 candidates of total 171 candidates who appeared in the exam at Dehradun centre were found to be tampered. These 15 candidates were in touch with operators of 4 different coaching institutes,” he said.

The SSP added, “During interrogation, Jitendra revealed that he had received ₹3 lakh from Saminder, Sahil Kumar and three people for handing them over OMR sheets of IELTS exam for a brief period. He also involved Blue Dart company manager Shabbir Khan in the plan. Accordingly, he drove the vehicle from the Patel Nagar office of Blue Dart on February 25. Then, he parked the vehicle alongside after crossing the forests of Mohand. There, Saminder and Sahil opened the lock of the suitcase with a screwdriver and took some OMR sheets in their custody. The duo asked the driver Jitendra to meet them at Delhi. On reaching the Delhi border, the two put the OMR sheets back in the suitcase and locked it again.”

He added that Sahil revealed that Saminder is his brother-in-law and it was Saminder who made a deal with Jitendra and Shabbir for handing them the OMR sheets of IELTS exam.

The SSP said Sahil told police that they had taken the candidates along with them in a car who were given the OMR sheets of the exam after taking it out from the suitcase.

The students corrected the mistakes in the OMR sheets and subsequently the OMR sheets were put back in the suitcase, the police said, adding that they used ₹50,000 to Shabbir and ₹3 lakh to Jitendra.

Saminder has links with coaching centre operators, and they used to charge ₹2-3 lakh from students through centre operators for tampering, the SSP stated.