Rajasthan cancels teacher recruitment exam paper after leak, 49 held

JAIPUR/UDAIPUR: In a re-run of last year's REET paper leak, a gang of Rajasthan's notorious exam mafia hired a bus in which they assembled 46 students and showed them a question paper of the senior teacher recruitment exam and asked them to mug up the answers before the test in Udaipur on Saturday.
Udaipur police intercepted the 'cheating bus' outside Bakeria police station and found the general knowledge and educational psychology question paper from the students. The same paper was to be distributed to over 3 lakh students across the state later in the day.

Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) chairman Sanjay Shrotriya said the board cancelled the exam and rescheduled it for January 29. He said candidates falling in Group C were supposed to appear for the test.
At 11.41am, chief minister Ashok Gehlot tweeted that the exam had been cancelled to ensure that no injustice is meted out to hardworking youths. He said other shifts of the exam will continue even as the government will take strict action against the accused.
Udaipur Range IG Prafulla Kumar said aspirants had to cough up as much Rs 10 lakh for the question papers and answers. "The main accused had managed to get hold of the paper on Friday night. A bus was also arranged with printers and laptops to evade suspicion," he said.
Udaipur SP Vikas Sharma said 49 persons were arrested including 46 students. "Of the 46 students, seven were girls. Two MBBS students were also part of the gang," Sharma said. The other three are kingpin Suresh Vishnoi and his two aides. Sharma said Vishnoi got the paper from another accused. "He (Vishnoi) struck a deal with each student for a hefty amount between Rs 8 lakh and 10 lakh," he said. Kumar said Vishnoi was posted as the headmaster of a government school.
The state government has suspended four government employees, including Vishnoi, after their names cropped up in the case.
The other three are senior teacher Rawat Ram, LDC Pukhraj and secondgrade teacher Bhagirath. Sources said they also suspect the involvement of Bhupendra and Suresh Kumar, whose names had cropped up earlier in cheating cases.
“We are examining the roles of Bhupendra and Kumar in providing the paper to Vishnoi,” said an official. Police said they were verifying the identities of each of the accused because most of the students are from farway districts like Jalore and Sirohi. Police said the number of arrests was likely to increase.
Shrotriya told TOI the decision to cancel the exam was taken to ensure that students’ interests were protected. He said all other exams will continue as per schedule. The recruitment exams for senior teachers began on December 21 and will conclude on December 27.
About 12.50 lakh students in three groups A, B and C are likely to write the exams. “Students from all the three groups need to score 40% in the qualifying paper. The second paper is of different subjects like social science, languages, mathematics and science,” said an official.