In a significant crackdown, Bhagalpur police have dismantled an interstate gang involved in solving competitive examination papers and arrested seven of its members. The arrests came swiftly within 24 hours following the kidnapping of a 19-year-old associate over a financial dispute within the illicit network.
Swift Police Action Leads to Arrests
The operation was triggered late on Wednesday night when Bhagalpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Hriday Kant received crucial information about the abduction of 19-year-old Karan Singh for ransom. Singh had reportedly travelled from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh to appear for a competitive exam in Bhagalpur and was subsequently reported missing.
Acting promptly, SSP Kant formed a special team under the leadership of City SP Subhank Mishra. The team was tasked with a dual mission: to safely rescue the victim and apprehend the kidnappers. Following a specific tip-off about suspicious activities in the Datbat area under Habibpur police station, the police conducted coordinated raids.
A trap was laid, leading to the successful arrest of all seven accused persons during the intervening night of Thursday and Friday. The arrested individuals were identified as Sumit Kumar (26), Goutam Kumar (27), Banti Kumar (30), Neetesh Kumar (30), Ankit Kumar (23), Shivam Kumar (28), and the victim-turned-accused, Karan Singh (19). The accused hail from various districts across Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The Gang's Elaborate Cheating Modus Operandi
Interrogation of the arrested individuals revealed the sophisticated and criminal operations of the gang. Police sources stated that the gang specifically targeted aspirants from states like Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh who had examination centres in Bihar's Patna, Purnia, Bhagalpur, and nearby areas.
The gang's method was technologically advanced and illegal. They allegedly hacked into computers at vulnerable examination centres that were conducting computer-based tests. Using solvers, websites, and other remote means, they transmitted answer keys to candidates during the exams.
This fraudulent service came at an exorbitant price. The gang, operating through middlemen, charged aspirants anywhere between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. The investigation uncovered that internal disputes over these large sums of money were common. In this instance, the failure of one solver to pay the agreed-upon share to other gang members led to his kidnapping, exposing the criminal underpinnings of the network.
Charges Filed and Future Implications
City SP Subhank Mishra confirmed the breakthrough, stating, “The gang members have been arrested and the entire modus operandi of the question solvers’ gang has been cracked.” The police have booked the accused under stringent sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the newly enacted Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
During the operation, law enforcement seized substantial evidence, including several documents, electronic devices like laptops and mobile phones, bank instruments, ATM cards, and examination-related materials. These items are expected to help investigators uncover the full extent of the gang's operations and possibly identify more beneficiaries and middlemen.
This case highlights a serious and evolving form of organized crime targeting India's competitive examination system. The swift action by Bhagalpur police not only resolved a kidnapping but also exposed a lucrative cheating racket that preyed on the aspirations of thousands of candidates, compromising the integrity of national-level exams.
