UP STF arrests 6 for 'leaking' exam paper to recruit review officers

Lucknow: The Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police on Sunday arrested six members of a gang, including a staff of a printing press, for their alleged involvement in leaking the examination paper for the posts of review officers and assistant review officers.

The arrests were made in Prayagraj, the STF said in a statement.

The exam, conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC), was held across the state on February 11.

The state government cancelled the exam on March 2, following reports that the paper was leaked.

Those arrested are — Sunil Raghuvanshi, a resident of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and a printing press worker, Subhash Prakash, a resident of Madhubani in Bihar, Vishal Dubey and Sandeep Pandey (residents of Prayagraj), Amarjeet Sharma, a resident of Gaya (Bihar), and Vivek Upadhyay, a resident of Ballia.

A laptop, six mobile phones and five blank cheques were seized from them, the STF said.

Prior to this, 10 people were arrested in this connection.

A case under sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (punishment for forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will etc.), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 34 (common intention), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been lodged at the Civil Lines police station in Prayagraj.

Charges under the Uttar Pradesh Public Examination Act, 1998 and Information Technology Act have also been slapped on the arrested accused, police said.

Following reports of the paper leak, the Uttar Pradesh government on March 2 cancelled the preliminary exam conducted on February 11 for the recruitment of review officers (ROs) and assistant review officers (AROs).

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had then directed that the exam be conducted again within six months.

The STF was assigned the task to investigate the matter.