MP: Gwalior Crime Branch arrests 2 main accused in NHM Contractual Staff Nurse exam paper leak case

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) [India], March 10 (ANI): Crime Branch Gwalior have arrested two main accused in the alleged National Health Mission Contractual Staff Nurse recruitment exam paper leak case, officials said on Thursday.

According to police, Pushkar Pandey, the accused and Rajeev Nayan his accomplice were arrested from New Delhi’s Rohini area on Thursday. Police have been looking for them for a month, officials said. Additional SP, Crime Branch, Gwalior, Rishikesh Meena told ANI that the NHM recruitment exam paper was leaked on February 7.

“Eight people were arrested earlier after which 3 more people were arrested. Today (Thursday), 2 main accused in the case have been arrested from Delhi,” said Additional SP, Crime Branch, Gwalior.

The Gwalior Crime Branch in February busted an interstate gang and arrested eight persons involved in the paper leak from a hotel on Tekanpur Jhansi Highway in the district. The team also recovered exam papers, laptops, mobile phones, and printers from the spot.

“More than half a dozen teams of the Crime Branch were engaged in the search of the accused in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and other states. Pushkar Pandey and Rajeev Nayan, who were caught by the police, have confessed to the crime of leaking the paper,” officials said.

“He used to break into servers and steal papers. After police remand, there can be many more shocking revelations from the accused,” they said.

Additional SP Crime Branch Rishikesh Meena, who is leading the case, says that many serious criminal cases have been registered against Pushkar Pandey and his accomplice Rajeev Nayan in the past as well”.

“Further investigation is underway,” he said.

The NHM Contractual Staff Nurse exam for 2284 posts was to be held at 36 centres in Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior and Rewa in two shifts between 10 am – 12 pm and 3 pm – 5 pm on Tuesday (Feb 7). The exams, however, were cancelled.

Gwalior Senior Superintendent of police (SSP) Amit Sanghi had said that the Gwalior Crime Branch had received information that a gang had arrived here for the nursing exam being conducted under NHM, which is luring the candidates who were participating in the exam and leaking some questions from the paper. Acting on the information, the police raided a dhaba on the Gwalior Jhansi Highway where some people were found who had laptops, printers and mobile phones. The candidates who were going to take the examination were also found along with them.

“Eight accused were arrested from the spot. Of these arrested accused, three accused are the resident of Gwalior, two accused from Prayagraj, two accused from Haryana and one from Bihar. But the mastermind is still absconding and a police team has been sent to find him. In the preliminary investigation it came to light that the absconding main accused is also a resident of Prayagraj,” he had added.

“When police interrogated the candidates, it came to light that they had received the question paper on mobile. They told the police that these questions would come in the exam in the evening shift. The answer was shown to the candidates who were present there. They also explained the modus operandi of the gang that the accused used to take Rs 2 to 3 lakh per examinee. First, they used to take the original documents of the candidates, when the question paper got a match in the exam after that they used to return the original documents after taking the money. The accused had taken the original documents of about 70 to 80 candidates,” SSP Sanghi had added.