E-Paper
Police recruitment exam: STF zeroes in on paper leak, arrests another key accused
Praveen Baliyan , along with his relative Kapil Tomar and one Vipin Kumar, was into the business of leaking question papers of different recruitment exams after coming in touch with one Anu Malik of Ghaziabad in 2009, say officials
LUCKNOW Zeroing in on the first source of question paper leak in the U.P. Police Constable Recruitment Exam, the UP Special Task Force (STF) arrested one Praveen Baliyan alias ‘Mintu’, 40, from Muzaffarnagar on Thursday evening, said officials here on Friday.
Baliyan, along with his relative Kapil Tomar and one Vipin Kumar, both residents of Baghpat, was into the business of leaking question papers of different recruitment exams after coming in touch with one Anu Malik of Ghaziabad in 2009, STF officials stated in a a press note.
They were also involved in making attempts to leak question papers of ongoing online examinations of Central Reserve Police Force constables conducted by Staff Selection Commitee of Government of India in Delhi, said officials.
Praveen Baliyan first met Anu Malik while preparing for central paramilitary force recruitment examinations in 2008 and 2009 and got involved in the nexus. “Baliyan gradually added Vipin Kumar, who retired from the army in 2012, and Kapil Tomar to the nexus. Tomar was arrested from Ghaziabad on Wednesday after his name surfaced in the paper leak when two people - Gurucharan and Rajkumar - were arrested while helping a woman aspirant Riya Chowdhary through bluetooth device during the second shift of the UP police recruitment examination on February 18,” they added.
Baliyan will now be interrogated about the other persons and the key person involved in the paper leak.
So far, 285 people, including some aspirants who hired people involved in the nexus of question paper leak, were arrested from across the state since February 17, said another STF official.
“These accused will be taken into police custody for quizzing about the main source of paper leak,” he added.
Investigators suspected that the question paper was leaked using a bugged computer system of an examination centre using a special software (Ammy Admin), which provides question papers, and thereafter, these people prepared answer keys to help aspirants through bluetooth devices and other methods.
On February 24, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had asked the STF to probe the matter thoroughly and take strict action against those involved in the question paper leak after the cancellation of the UP Police Constable Recruitment Examination-2023 for 60,244 posts. He asked officials to conduct the re-examination within six months with full transparency.
