After the arrests, a case was lodged under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery) and under Public Examination Act. (Representational Image)

Eight persons, including a school principal, were arrested and two minor girls detained in Deoria district under Bhatni police station on Saturday after they were caught helping students of Class X using unfair means in the science state board exam on Saturday.

Station House Officer (Bhatni) Bhismpal Singh Yadav said that the arrests were made during a raid at the house of a peon of Sri Karm Yogi Sri Patti Higher Secondary School, a government-aided school.

“We had received information that some people were writing answers for the students at the house of the peon, Ramanand Yadav. The house is located around 2 km from the school. We conducted a raid at the house where we found people writing answer scripts for the students of Class X board examination,” said the SHO.

“Ramanand Yadav fled before we could reach his house, but he will be arrested soon. We have arrested the school principal Ashok Rai,” added the SHO.

After the arrests, a case was lodged under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery) and under Public Examination Act.

Police also recovered five complete answer sheets allegedly written by those arrested, two blank answer sheets and nine blank supplementary answer sheets from the house of the peon.

“The people who were arrested have told us that they would get Rs 1,000 for writing one answer sheet. We are still not sure how much the group was charging from the students who were provided with these answer sheets. These things will become clear during the probe. The peon is the main accused and he was the one who used to smuggle the answer scripts from the school and return them after getting them filled by people sitting in his house,” said the SHO.

Deoria District Magistrate, Amit Kishor, said that the school’s accreditation is also being probed. “We are looking into how the school got the UP Board accreditation. We had kept a vigil and were alert during the mathematics and science examination. On Friday night, we had received intelligence inputs regarding the peon’s house,” said the DM.

“The exam centre has been blacklisted. From next year, it will not be holding any board examination,” the DM told PTI.

All the eight arrested have been sent to judicial custody, while the two minor girls have been sent to juvenile homes.