Three arrested in Kolhapur for selling fake Army exam question papers

PUNE: The Kolhapur police on Sunday arrested three people for allegedly selling fake question papers of the Common Entrance Exam for recruitment into the Indian Army on Sunday.
The action was taken jointly by the Southern Command’s military intelligence liaison unit, the Pune cybercrime cell, and the Kolhapur crime branch in the early hours of Sunday. The suspects have been booked under IPC sections 420 and 34.
Police said the question papers recovered did not match the originals and so, the recruitment exam was held as scheduled on Sunday.
The suspects are residents of Satara and Kolhapur — one of them runs a private training centre in Satara. Police said the suspects sold the fake question papers to 19 aspirants.
The action was taken after Saurabh Kurane of Kolhapur lodged an FIR with the Rajarampuri police station.
“The suspects had taken money from the 19 aspirants under the pretext of helping them sail through the recruitment exam. We have recovered fake question papers from their possession,” Kolhapur superintendent of police Abhinav Deshmukh told TOI over the phone on Sunday.
About 1,800 candidates had appeared for the examination — for all trades — at 109 Territorial Army ground in Kolhapur.
“We strongly suspect the owner of the academy has duped many others in a similar fashion. We will look into this and also verify how many others were involved,” Deshmukh said.
Over 100 private academies, mostly run by ex-servicemen, operate in Western Maharashtra. “Youths in this region are keen on joining the Armed Forces and join these academies. The operators charge each aspirant Rs3-5 lakh, claiming to provide the CEE question paper, assistance in clearing the medical, etc,” said a senior Satara police officer, who investigated a similar case in 2018, said.