Patna: The Bihar State Health Society (BSHS) on Monday cancelled the Community Health Officer (CHO) exams after finding that a "solver gang" had gained unauthorised access to computer systems via proxy servers, leading to irregularities at several online exam centres. The exams, conducted on Sunday (December 1) in two shifts and scheduled to continue on Monday, were annulled. The BSHS said new exam dates would be announced later.
"So far, 37 people have been arrested, including candidates, exam centre heads, personnel from ‘We Shine Tech Pvt Ltd', coordinators and IT staff of the examination centres," deputy inspector general (DIG) of the Economic Offences Unit (EOU), Manavjit Singh Dhillon, said.
Sources said evidence of malpractice, including digital proof, was found.
The recruitment drive was being conducted to fill nearly 4,500 CHO positions across the state.
The EOU has started interrogating the arrested people. Raids were conducted at 12 locations on Monday based on the information obtained during questioning. Relatives of the suspects gathered outside the EOU office, seeking updates on the investigation.
"The unit received a secret tip-off about irregularities in the CHO examination held in Patna. Acting on this information, a special team was formed to address financial crimes. With assistance from Patna police, random checks were conducted during the second shift of the exam at three online centres in the Ramkrishna Nagar police station area. Evidence revealed that a ‘solver gang' had accessed computer systems illegally using proxy servers, remote viewing applications and software to solve the online computer-based tests (CBTs) in real-time," Dhillon said.
Further investigations revealed that the gang had collaborated with a company named We Shine Tech Private Limited, which oversees online examinations at designated centres. Several staff members, including exam centre heads, invigilators, IT managers and exam coordinators were arrested.
The DIG said, "A case, numbered 28/2024, has been registered at the EOU police station. A special investigation team has been formed to deepen the probe. Information extracted from the accused is helping piece together the larger network and searches for additional suspects are on."