19 held for cheating in UP police job exam

Lucknow: In a major crackdown, 19 people were arrested on Monday for allegedly aiding cheating through hi-tech devices, such as spy-mics, and placing "solvers" impersonating aspirants in the Uttar Pradesh Police constable recruitment examination, officials said.

Eight people have been arrested from Allahabad and 11 from Gorakhpur for helping aspirants in using unfair means in the exam, they said.

The two-day examination, which began on Monday, is being conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment Board at 860 centres in 56 districts to fill 41,520 posts.

"The Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force (STF) has arrested as many as 11 people from Gorakhpur and five from Allahabad," Inspector General (IG) of Police, STF, Amitabh Yash said.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Allahabad, Nitin Tiwari said three more people were arrested from Allahabad and a spy microphone (mic) along with a hearing device was seized.

Solvers are generally bright students who enter examination centres with forged documents having superimposed photographs, according to the IG.

He also said Bluetooth devices such as the spy-mic had been used in some examinations earlier.

"They are small devices that can be hidden inside the ear, and generally, the mobile device is strapped somewhere on the body so that the answers can be dictated," Yash said.

The crackdown comes months after 11 lakh students opted out of the UP Board exams earlier this year after the use of a special task force and local intelligence by the state government to keep a tab on the cheating mafia.

Uttar Pradesh DGP Om Prakash Singh said special instructions had been issued to keep a close watch on activities on social media.