5 held for cheating in state government exam

Kolkata: Five youths were arrested on charges of attempting to cheat by using modern electronic gadgets while appearing for the written examination for recruitment in the rank of constable of West Bengal Police.

They were arrested from an examination centre at Bongaon in North 24-Parganas on Sunday. A police officer said they were caught when security personnel were checking at the entrance of the examination centre. As a result they failed to execute their plan.

Police said all five of them are residents of Nadia and they had applied for the job of constables of the state police. They went to Bongaon on Monday to appear for the written test. Their movement led to the suspicion and the policemen posted at the entrance of examination took them for a thorough checking.

During checking, the police found electronic gadgets fitted under the sole of their shoes. A SIM card was fitted to each one of them.

According to sources, the accused told police that the electronic device was actually a calling device and it has capacity to connect with a dedicated phone number.

In a bid to connect to a dedicated phone number, the user has to long press the device and the task becomes easier when it is fitted under the shoe sole.

At the same time, micro size wireless earphones were also found from them. They had a plan to use the earphones to talk to the person, whose number gets connected by long pressing the electronic device fitted under the shoe sole. The person would have narrated answers to the youths.

A senior police officer said: "It could be the first time when youths were caught with such devices. The matter has been informed to all concerned officials."