Candidates used earpieces to cheat; STF to probe case

Lucknow: Spy earpieces have emerged as the key prop that facilitated cheating by candidates in the scam related to the recruitment of 69,000 assistant teachers in Uttar Pradesh. The investigation was handed over to a special task force (STF) on Tuesday.

KL Patel, the kingpin had served jail term for being associated with the Vyapam scam and had also independently contested the legislative assembly elections from Pratappur in 2017. Patel was a doctor in a primary healthcare centre.

Meanwhile, in a fresh obstacle to the state government’s efforts to carry out recruitment, the Supreme Court also stayed the appointment of 37,339 of these 69,000 posts as they are occupied by shiksha mitras.

The SC in an earlier order had asked the state government to not disturb these posts until it submitted response to certain court questions by July 6.

According to a senior police official, who had investigated the case, one of the gangs nabbed by the Prayagraj police revealed that it modus operandi in the beginning required the assistance of the manager of the examination centre — Pancham Lal Ashram Inter College.

Then the job would finally be done with the help of these near-invisible earphones that candidates wore before entering the examination hall. After question booklets would be distributed, the ones remaining for absentee candidates would be taken back to the control room.

It was during this time that “solvers” appointed by Patel would get access to the question paper. “The solvers would then take not more than five minutes to solve the paper after which the answers were dictated to the candidates, who had paid, through these earphones,” said the official.

“Nobody from the department seems to be involved till now. But the centre managers were complicit,” he said. Another prime defaulter, Santosh Kumar Bhind, is a lekhpal or village accountant.

The Prayagraj police has till now arrested 11 people, including Patel, Bhind and two candidates including the topper of the exam. The topper Dharmendra Kumar, who had scored 142 out of 150 marks, was reportedly found unable to answer basic general knowledge questions such as the name of India’s president.

It has emerged that a sum between `5-7.5 lakh was taken from each candidate. The gang has admitted to trapping around 50 such candidates.