Two people were booked in Maharashtra's Aurangabad for alleged malpractice while writing the recruitment exam for Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), the Times of India reported on Saturday.
According to the report, the candidate, who is physically disabled, wrote the exam at the Chikalthana examination centre - conducted for the role of civil engineer assistant cadre, MHADA - with the help of an exam writer. However, officials later found that there was a discrepancy between the declared and the actual qualifications of the exam writer.
While the candidate and his writer had declared the latter's educational qualification to be up until the HSC board, it was later found out by MHADA authorities that he was a graduate, said Inspector Gautam Patare of the MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) CIDCO police station in Aurangabad.
MHADA administrative officer Suraj Vaishnav filed an FIR with the MIDC CIDCO police station on the basis that the candidate had made a fraudulent undertaking - that the writer assisting him would not be qualified beyond the HSC level. Further scrutiny revealed that the scribe had earlier appeared for a MHADA exam himself (for recruiting junior clerks) in 2021, even making it to the merit list.
"The suspects gave a false undertaking about the educational qualification of the writer. As per norms, the writer has to be educationally less qualified than the candidate whom he is assisting in the exam. The writer holds a bachelor's degree in arts, whereas he claimed that he is just HSC passed," read the FIR. The FIR was registered on February 9, 2023.
Inspector Patare added that teams had been sent to arrest the duo - the candidate resides in Kannad taluka of Aurangabad district, while the writer resides in Deolgaonraja of Buldhana district.