Bengaluru trader held in Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation exam scam

BELAGAVI: The police achieved another breakthrough in the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation (KPTCL) recruitment scam. The department arrested a Bengaluru-based accused on Thursday, who was supplying electronic gadgets, meant to help candidates to cheat in the examination.
The accused is Mohammad Ajimuddin,37, who runs an electronic gadgets’ shop, ‘Sky Zone,’ on SP Road, Devasandra, Bengaluru. Police seized gadgets worth Rs 9.9 lakh from his shop. The officers involved in the investigation were shocked after seeing the kind of gadgets they found after the raid, which were used for the scam.
Micro Bluetooth fitted in N-95 masks and Bluetooth fitted in inner-wear, electronic earpieces which fit inside the ear, giving clear audio feed, were among the recovered gadgets. The accused used to fetch the gadgets from Delhi and Hyderabad, and sell them at a high cost.
Sanjeev Bhandari, an accused who was arrested in the KPTCL recruitment scam recently, had bought Bluetooth and smartwatches from the accused, and sold them to other candidates. Police raided the shop in Bengaluru, based on the information given by Bhandari, during their investigation. According to police sources, the electronic gadgets used by the candidates are not limited to the KPTCL recruitment scam, but many other examinations too. Hence, the department has taken this case very seriously.
Police recovered a total of 179 types of electronic devices, including Bluetooth-fitted N-95 masks and inner-wear, electronic earpieces, charger cables, walkie-talkies and wires. The accused was produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody. With this arrest, the number of total arrests in the scam has reached 16, including a Gadag-based vice-principal, who was the supervisor of the examination centre, and a guest lecturer.
With the investigation ongoing, the roots of the examination scam are looking deeper and wider. Superintendent of police Sanjeev Patil said that they are investigating a person who runs a competitive examination coaching centre, as they suspect his involvement in the scam. Some of the candidates availed coaching in the particular centre, and attained excellent results.
“Not all candidates of the particular centre, but others too are involved in the scam. Many candidates have been absconding, as they fear being arrested. However, we will trace them. The team is also investigating how the gadgets worked, despite jammers being deployed, and why the jammers were not functioning on the day of the examination, in some examination centres,” SP Patil said.
The investigating team led by DSP Veeresh Dodamani of the district crime records bureau, under the guidance of additional SP Mahaning Nandagavi, arrested the accused. SP Patil said that all the police personnel who helped with the case will be rewarded, and the same mentioned in their service records.
The KPTCL recruitment examination was held on August 7 in various centres across the state, for junior assistant posts. Initially, police thought the racket was only limited to Belagavi, Gadag and Uttar Kannada districts, but is now looking to be more widespread. So far, Belagavi police arrested several key persons running the syndicates, who were allegedly helping candidates by providing answers through electronic gadgets. According to a preliminary investigation, syndicates charged Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh from each candidate, to provide answers via Bluetooth.cr