UP STF arrests doctor in police recruitment question paper leak case

Lucknow, Mar 16 (PTI) A doctor was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh STF on Saturday in connection with the state police recruitment examination question paper leak case.

According to a press statement issued by the STF, Dr Shubham Mandal, a resident of Bihar, was held by the STF’s Meerut unit.

“Mandal was one of the accused who leaked the question paper stored in a warehouse in Ahmedabad,” read the press statement.

Mandal was called to the STF unit in Meerut, where he was arrested after questioning.

The arrest came a day after the UP police announced the arrest of three alleged masterminds who were former employees of a company that transported question papers and had connived with some of the firm’s present employees, also accused in the case, to leak the question paper of the Uttar Pradesh police recruitment test in the first week of February.

During investigation, it was found that the question paper was leaked when it was being transported to a strong room from a printing press, police said and it was stored at a warehouse in Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

According to police, Mandal was allegedly part of an inter-state gang involved in leaking question papers of government recruitment exams.

The number of people arrested in the case now stands at 55, according to police.

The examination to recruit constables, held on February 17 and 18, had to be cancelled as the question paper had been leaked. More than 48 lakh candidates had appeared for the test across the state on the two dates.

Following the incident, the Uttar Pradesh government had ordered an investigation and re-test, and had later removed Renuka Mishra as the chairperson of the UP Police Recruitment and Promotion Board. She was on the “wait list” after her removal from the post and Vigilance Director Rajiv Krishna was given the additional responsibility of the board.

Mandal’s name will be added to the FIR registered in Meerut in the case.

The case has been registered under Indian Penal Code sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating by inducement), 467 (forgery of valuable documents), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 386 (extortion by putting any person in fear of death or of grievous hurt) at Kankarkheda police station in Meerut.