U.P. police recruitment paper leak: Staff of CCTVs, biometric system installation agency under ED scanner
The mega-test exercise involving over 48.17 lakh aspirants was cancelled on February 24 last year after confirmation of question paper leak and successfully re-conducted in August 2024
Several staff members of the agency involved in installation of CCTVs and biometric system at 2,385 exam centres of police recruitment examination for 60,244 posts of police constables in Uttar Pradesh which was held on February 17 and 18 last year have now come under the scanner.
The suspicion surfaced during an investigation of Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s Lucknow unit regarding involvement of money worth several crores in the matter. The mega-test exercise involving over 48.17 lakh aspirants was cancelled on February 24 last year after confirmation of question paper leak and successfully re-conducted in August 2024.
In the paper leak, over 178 FIRs were lodged in 41 districts and more than 400 people, including key accused Rajiv Nayan Mishra, Ravi Attri, Shubham Kumar, Dr Sharad and Subash Prakash, were arrested. The ED has also initiated investigation in these cases involving money laundering of several crore rupees. A senior ED official said the director of the firm involved in printing the question papers was called for questioning last week.
During the questioning, he made starting revelation that one of the co-accused, Durgesh Kumar, who was arrested for the alleged paper leak last year, had the identity card and uniform of a firm involved in installing CCTVs and biometric systems at the examination centres, the ED official said.
“It was discovered that Durgesh Kumar was arrested from Gorakhpur’s Islamia College of Commerce, one of the examination centres, on February 17 and 18, 2024, when the director’s claim was verified. And an identity card of the CCTV and biometric system installation firm was recovered from his possession,” he said.
He further said the information has further raised suspicion that solvers and those involved in compromising the question papers would have used the same method of using the uniform and the identify card of the same firm to enter the examination centres with mobile phones without getting checked and use the gadgets to leak the papers.
“We are cross-checking these things further and have planned to seek custody remand of the key accused of the question paper leak case to interrogate them on these lines,” he said and added, “This could unravel the entire nexus involved behind the paper leak and expose the firm’s authorities involved in the act”.
Notably, entry to the examination centres was allowed only after candidates underwent physical frisking, security checks using hand-held metal detectors (HHMD) and biometric verification during the process held in February last year.
Over 34.6 lakh candidates out of the total 48,17,441 applicants appeared in the written examination for 60,244 posts of police constables re-conducted in August last year.
Of 60,244 posts, 20 percent posts are reserved for women candidates as per reservation policy. As a result, 12,049 women were recruited while a total 48,195 men were recruited recently after completing physical tests and documents verification process.
