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The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) arrested 13 members of a well-organised interstate syndicate accused of using Bluetooth technology to facilitate cheating during the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti’s junior clerk and lab attendant recruitment examination in Prayagraj.
According to a press note issued by the STF, the arrests were carried out on Saturday, following surveillance and intelligence inputs developed by the STF in coordination with the local police.
Investigators said the gang charged as much as ₹10 lakh from each candidate for the high-tech cheating service. Candidates were allegedly equipped with hidden Bluetooth devices and placed across multiple exam centres in Prayagraj.
The STF recovered nine Bluetooth devices with SIMs, three OMR sheets and question papers, eleven admit cards, five SIM cards, four mobile phones, several identity documents including Aadhaar and PAN cards, and ₹6,520 in cash from four examination centres in Prayagraj.
Candidates were reportedly trained a day before the exam on how to use the concealed Bluetooth gadgets. Once the examination began, question papers were leaked to an associate named Bachcha Yadav via WhatsApp. Yadav prepared answer keys and transmitted them to the examinees through Bluetooth devices. “This process allowed real-time delivery of answers to candidates inside the exam halls,” STF officials revealed.
The cheating racket extended across UP, Delhi, Bihar, and West Bengal. The syndicate placed candidates not only in Prayagraj but also in exam centres located in Lucknow, Delhi, and Sikkim.
“The accused also confessed to executing similar cheating operations in previous competitive exams such as the Preliminary Eligibility Test (PET), Panchayat Officer recruitment, and Railway and Banking examinations,” STF stated. In some cases, OMR sheets were allegedly filled outside the exam venues in collaboration with insiders.
The arrested individuals were identified as Suraj Maurya, the alleged kingpin of the racket, along with Shambhunath Prajapati, Arvind Kumar, Ritesh Maurya, Harikesh Yadav, Shivam Singh, Anjali Maurya, Raj Gabbar, Ramvimal, Anil Kumar Patel, Alok Kumar Maurya, Surendra Kumar Yadav and Suraj Sharma, STF stated.
Three FIRs have been filed at Sarai Inayat, Tharwai, and Ghurpur police stations under the Uttar Pradesh Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act 2024 and various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the STF stated. Authorities said further investigations are underway to track the broader network.
