Uttar Pradesh police busts paper leak racket

Lucknow: In a significant breakthrough, Uttar Pradesh authorities have exposed a widespread paper leaking racket involved in the UP Police recruitment and RO-ARO examination with the arrest of kingpins.

Addressing the media in a press conference on Friday, the state’s Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar said the arrest of 396 individuals implicated in the paper leak scandal.

The DGP disclosed that the orchestrated leak involved the collusion of Shivam Giri, Rohit Pandey, and Abhishek Gupta, employees of the agency responsible for transporting examination papers for police recruitment.

While these three key suspects are in custody, efforts to identify and apprehend the mastermind behind the operation are actively underway.

Among the arrests made, three suspects were apprehended in Ghaziabad, while authorities are currently interrogating a fourth individual, a doctor from Patna, believed to be connected to the illicit scheme. Investigations unveiled that the gang established direct communication with the transport company tasked with printing and distributing the examination papers, thereby facilitating the leak.

Further revelations emerged when the Uttar Pradesh Police’s Special Task Force (STF) disclosed that around 1,000 candidates slated to appear in the UP Police constable recruitment examination on February 18 were gathered at a resort in Gurgaon’s Manesar by members of the racket. Their aim was to provide leaked question papers two days before the exam.

In a major development, Mahendra Sharma, a suspect, was apprehended in Haryana’s Jind district with leaked question papers and an answer key, as stated in an STF communique.

Earlier on March 5, six suspects from Meerut—Deepu, Bittu, Praveen, Rohit, Naveen, and Sahil—were arrested. Following the examination’s cancellation, Uttar Pradesh dismissed Renuka Mishra, chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment & Promotion Board (UPPRPB), responsible for conducting the exam.