500 proxy candidates caught appearing in exam in last 5 yrs linked to Bihar

Earlier this month, a similar gang was busted when four persons were arrested while trying to tamper with the Group-D exam of the East Central Railway using hi-tech devices like Bluetooth and sophisticated earphones

Earlier in September, a second year student of Bachelor of Dental Science (BDS) programme was held from Varanasi while writing the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), impersonating as an aspirant. She was arrested from the examination centre and confessed to have received ₹5 lakh through her mother from a gang to appear in the prestigious examination. As she was from a poor family, she easily fell into the gang’s trap, a police officer aware of the case said.

At the police recruitment examination in Sheikhpura in July this year, 18 persons were caught while appearing in proxy. (Shutterstock/Representatiive image)

This is not an exception; a senior police officer said more than 500 such people from Bihar have been arrested from different parts of the country in the last five years. Several arrests have been made from Bihar, which has a dubious record of tampering with the examination process through question paper leaks or impersonation. Ranjit Don was perhaps the most infamous such example from Bihar, associated with serial tampering of competitive examinations.

Bihar Police say a well-organised network is involved in this fraud and it preys on willing candidates and hired experts for a price. Not surprisingly, be it Vyapam scam, Railway recruitment Group D, UP service selection commission, assistant professor recruitment, UP civil court staff recruitment, Constable/PRC recruitment, SSC online competitive examination, Chandigarh transport undertaking (CTU) conductor recruitment exam or the NEET, most incidents of tampering or any other irregularity is linked to Bihar due to the presence of organised gangs that have pan-India network.

“The network takes care of the logistics of managing question papers and tampering with admit cards in connivance with some insiders at the level of identified examination centres. As the stakes for the exams are high, both parents of candidates as well as scholars fall for the risky shortcuts,” a police official, who didn’t wish to be named, said.

There have been several examinations where imposters have been found operating, including at the police recruitment examination in Sheikhpura in July this year, when 18 persons were caught while appearing in proxy, including for their relatives.

Last week, eight imposters, including four girls, were caught in Patna at an examination centre for the teachers’ D.El.Ed exam—a diploma course in elementary education.

Even the board examination held in February this year reported such fraud with over 65 proxy candidates getting arrested. Even in the Fauqania exam conducted by the Madarsa boss, imposters were caught appearing for their kin in the month of March.

Earlier this month, a similar gang was busted when four persons were arrested while trying to tamper with the Group-D exam of the East Central Railway using hi-tech devices like Bluetooth, sophisticated earphones. They also recovered admit cards of various competitive exams, original certificates etc. from them, pointing to a larger nexus.

Last year in November, over 650 real applicants, including 20 women, appearing in the physical efficiency test (PET) for recruitment of constables in Bihar police were arrested since their biometric credentials taken during the written examination did not match with those collected at the PET.

Chairman of the Central Selection Board of Constable (CSBC) KS Dwivedi said the imposters might have taken the examination in place of the arrested candidates due to lapses at the examination centres.

The modus operandi of the gangs has undergone change with time. Himself a former medical student, Ranjit Don was considered a mastermind of the medical entrance test leak racket. Though he was caught by the CBI in 2003, the beneficiaries of his misdeeds were said to have spread nationwide by then.

Reportedly, he made hundreds of crores by helping thousands of undeserving doctors, engineers, MBAs and bankers to get into the mainstream. He proved that no examination system in the country was foolproof.

“Now, question-leak is fraught with huge risk due to improved systems and so arrangements are made for tampering the exams real-time through solvers and imposters with the help of managed exam centres.

“The imposters use fudged pictures on admit cards and use oil or some adhesive on the thumb for fingerprint to avoid detection during matching. The gangs earn in millions depending on the examination. It could be as high as ₹4 to 5 million per candidate. However, the subject matter experts, hired for the swap, get pittance despite the huge risk involved and are exploited by gangs due to their poverty,” said a senior police officer of the state home department.