The Uttar Pradesh special task force (STF) and state police busted two gangs of solvers and arrested 32 people during the UP Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET)-2018 held across the state on Sunday.

The STF busted a gang of solvers in Moradabad and arrested six people. Another gang was unearthed by Hardoi police following the arrest of eight people, including a woman solver, according to state police spokesman.

He said further raids were on and more arrests were likely.

The UP TET-2018 was held in two shifts – 10 am to 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm to 5 pm — at 2,070 centres across the state.

Senior superintendent of police, STF, Abhishek Singh said the six people arrested in Moradabad were the members of a solvers gang and were roped in by a group of people involved in arranging candidates and charging money from them to facilitate selection.

He said initial probe revealed that the gang used to demand Rs 10 lakh each from candidates.

Singh said four solvers, identified as Sachin, Jitendra Kumar Saini, Mithilesh and Sippu alias Sardari were arrested from a hotel in Buddh Vihar, Moradabad, before the examination while two others, Vipin Kumar and Saurabh Asthana, were nabbed from an examination centre (VKS Public School) in Moradabad.

“Sachin and Jitendra revealed during interrogation that they along with one Ankit had arranged for proxy candidates and used to pay them Rs 50 lakh each. The gang members used to keep the original documents of candidates with them and returned it only after getting Rs 10 lakh from them once the examination was cleared,” he added.

Meanwhile, another gang of solvers was busted in Hardoi where seven people were arrested from different places before the examination.

Superintendent of police (SP), Hardoi, Alok Priyadarshi said the people arrested from Hardoi were identified as Rajnish Kumar Nishad, Mool Chandra Gupta, Shyam Babu, Vineet Kumar, Awadhesh Kumar, Nikhil Kumar Rathore and Chandra Prakash.

“The police also arrested a woman solver, Sunita, from Prayagraj after getting information about her from the people arrested earlier. She was appearing for the examination in place of a Hardoi resident Seema Devi,” he added.

A senior officer at the DGP headquarters said two people appearing in place of other candidates were arrested from Bhadohi and Kaushambi districts.

“A woman lekhpal was arrested from Janta Inter College in Shravasti for appearing in place of her sister-in-law while a man appearing in place of his relative was arrested in Badohi,” he added.

The SSP (STF) said a team was trying to trace the candidates whose names had surfaced in hiring solvers. “A list is being prepared and such candidates are also likely to be arrested as they are equally responsible for using unfair means,” he said.

FRAUDSTERS FOUND SELLING FAKE PAPERS, HELD

UP STF also arrested three people from Varanasi and Bijnor for selling fake questions papers to candidates.

SSP, STF, Abhishek Singh said two people, Bharat Singh Yadav and Laxmikant Bharti, were arrested from Varanasi while one Rakesh Kumar Singh was nabbed from Bijnor.

“They were selling question papers for Rs 1 lakh each. Question papers recovered from them were found to be fake. The accused said they were trying to take advantage of the desperation of candidates to clear the test at any cost,” he said.

MODUS OPERANDI

An STF officer said the solvers’ gang often used faded or hazy photographs of candidates while applying for the TET so that invigilators or staff at the examination centre could not clearly identify the candidates.

“They also used faded pictures of solvers in clothes similar to the original candidates to prepare fake identity proofs like PAN cards to show at the examination centres,” he added.

First Published: Nov 19, 2018 13:48 IST