A manager in FCI, an MTech, a future inspector in Narcotics Bureau, a central government employee, two teachers and a civil service aspirant -- this would read an impressive CV for a group of seven youths.
But their efforts to pull out a fraud on thousands of aspirants fell flat this Sunday when they were trapped by police here after they allegedly leaked question papers for the examinations to select 1,943 Social Security Assistants in Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
They were allegedly supplying the answers to a select few who had paid the gang between Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs seven lakh through mobile phones. A Social Security Assistant is required to maintain accounts, work on settlement of claims, prepare cash books and reports and other similar duties with the EPFO.
In Delhi, around 26,700 candidates were appearing for the written exam for 156 posts. The seven youths were arrested from inside a private school in Peetampura on Sunday allegedly with the leaked papers.
Rahul Yadav (26), Ram Kumar (26), Vijay Kumar (32), Sunil Kumar (32), Manoj Kumar (27), Yashpal Singh (34) and Devesh Dinkar (27) were arrested in connection with the case, while one Sumit is absconding, DCP (Crime) Sanjay Kumar Jain said.
Rahul, who is pursuing MBA and is to join Narcotics Control Bureau as an Inspector in a fortnight; Ram, who holds an MBA degree and is a manager in Food Corporation of India, and Sumit are the alleged kingpins of the racket.
"They devised a plan to smuggle the paper outside the examination venue and convey answers through mobile phones inside the examination hall. It was Ram who recruited the 'question paper solvers' for this exam," Jain said.
Vijay, a teacher with an MCD school, is preparing for state Civil Services Examination, while Manoj, an MTech degree holder, is working as a teacher with a Technology Institute in Gurgaon for the past three years.
Sunil is also a teacher with a government primary school in Haryana. Yashpal, a graduate from Narnol, is a Social Security Officer with Employee State Insurance Corporation in Haryana for the past five years, while Dinkar is a science graduate from Bihar, who is preparing for Civil Services Examination.
"We raided the premises when the accused were busy solving the questions from the photocopy of the question papers. They were conveying the answers through mobile phones to their respective candidates sitting inside the examination hall," Jain said.
He claimed Sumit allegedly arranged for the question paper to be photocopied. "He passed the question paper to Rahul and Ram who already had five persons with them to solve the question paper. The gang settled down at the premises of a private primary school," Jain said.
Investigators said the gang was charging between Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh from each of their clients based on the paying capacity of the candidate.
"Most of the candidates in their loop are local aspirants who live in outer Delhi or neighbouring Haryana. In the investigation conducted, so far it has been found that at least 24 candidates were using unfair means in this examination."
"Photocopies of admit cards of these candidates with their respective mobile phone number written on them have been recovered from the gang. The five 'paper solvers' apprehended were each promised Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000," Jain said.
Investigators said the exam was to be held on April 15 but was rescheduled because of MCD polls on that day. It was held simultaneously at 18 venues across Delhi. According to investigators, any graduate with computer training certificate from a recognised university was eligible to sit for this exam.
The additional requirement was that the candidate should possess a speed of at least 5,000 key depressions per hour for data entry work.