Burning update

Patiala –

IGP Patiala Range Mukhwinder Singh Chhina and Varun Sharma SSP Patiala told in the press conference that a case number 238, dated 11.11.2022 A/D 419, 420, 465, 468, 471, 120B .PC, 66d IT. Act, 2008, was registered at Thana Kotwali, Patiala based on a confidential tip-off that certain persons were extorting huge sums of money from candidates appearing in various recruitment examinations held for government jobs to answer questions correctly. Helped candidates to pass the test by using fraudulent means like electronic devices.

In this connection, five persons named Navraj Chaudhary and Gurpreet Singh of Deena village of Patiala, Jitender Singh of Bhullan village of Patiala, Sonu Kumar of Ramana-Ramani village of Haryana and Varjinder Singh of Jind village of Nachhar Khera of Haryana were arrested. The arrested persons revealed during interrogation that they used to provide candidates with GSM devices, which contained SIM cards and tiny Bluetooth earbuds for seamless connectivity. The candidate will carry the GSM device concealed, usually hidden in shoes/socks, etc.

Thereafter, during the examination, the test booklet series obtained by the candidate will write down the answers to the person, the candidate will first use agreed signals like coughing/tapping, followed by the arrested person and their companions. Signals will determine the correct answers of the candidates during the examination.

The arrested Varjinder Singh son of Satyawan, a resident of Nachhatar Khera, Jind, Haryana disclosed that fake candidates applying for the examinations used to take pictures of the question papers with the help of wireless cameras and send these pictures out to pre-determined persons.
Subject experts from different disciplines from outside places like Haryana, who were already involved in this criminal conspiracy, would then solve the questions and the answer key is prepared accordingly. The answer key was then assigned to the candidates through a GSM/Bluetooth device.

At least 7 to 10 more persons belonging to Haryana and Punjab are yet to be arrested in this criminal conspiracy/racket, according to the revelations of the arrested persons. According to the investigations conducted by the Patiala Police so far, the gang has confessed to providing its illegal services to some candidates in the Naib-Tehsildar recruitment exam recently conducted by the Punjab Public Service Commission, Patiala. Such candidates are being identified by the investigation team.

Police have so far recovered 11 GSM devices, 7 mini Bluetooth earbuds, 12 mobiles, 1 laptop, 2 pen drives, etc. which were used by fraudsters during the examination process. As admitted Navraj Chowdhury and Gurpreet Singh, collected the candidates and provided SIM cards to the candidates appearing for the Naib-Tehsildar Recruitment Examination held in May 2022 for communication during the examination.
During the investigation, it has come to light that Jatinder Singh was in touch with the Haryana-based mastermind of the examination scam and played a key role in the scam by bringing candidates for the examination and arranging communication facilities. Sonu Kumar has revealed that he wrote the answers of the candidates in Patiala during the Naib-Tehsildar recruitment exam with the help of GSM devices.