The arrested include five aspirants and six who were involved in leaking the paper, police said.
Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Saturday arrested 11 people in Meerut who were allegedly involved in leaking the question paper of tubewell operators’ recruitment examination. Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UPSSSC) has cancelled the exam which was scheduled for Sunday, said SSP, STF, Abhishek Singh.
Police claimed to have recovered three handwritten answer sheets, five admit cards, 13 cellphones and Rs 14.8 lakh from their possession. The arrested include five aspirants and six who were involved in leaking the paper, police said.
Police said they got a tip off on Saturday that a gang involved in leaking question papers are present at Umrao enclave near Meerut’s Cant railway station. A police team rushed to the spot and arrested 11 persons including a primary school teacher, who is suspected to be the mastermind behind the leak.
“During questioning, Sachin Chowdhary, a primary school teacher, told police that he used to charge Rs 6 to 7 lakh from each aspirant. On Saturday evening, he had called all aspirants near the railway station to provide answer sheets of the question paper,” said a police officer.
After recovery of the answer sheets, police sent it to the chairman of UPSSSC. After the seized documents matched with the original question paper, the chairman cancelled the exam Saturday night, a police officer said. Singh said Chowdhary is being questioned to know the source of the question paper leak.
After the cancellation, several aspirants protested outside examination centers at different parts of the state.