The Uttarakhand Special Task Force has apprehended the alleged mastermind behind a sophisticated SSC exam cheating racket, exposing a network that compromised the integrity of the Staff Selection Commission recruitment process.
The Uttarakhand Special Task Force arrested the alleged mastermind of a sophisticated cheating racket in an SSC recruitment examination from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Tuesday.
The exam was held by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) for the recruitment of multi-tasking (non-technical) staff and havaldars, they said.
According to officials, the accused, identified as Shubham Bhatnagar, operated a digital lab that served as an examination centre. He allegedly provided remote access to candidates to solve papers illegally.
Special Task Force (STF) SSP Ajay Singh said Bhatnagar ran the Mahadev Digital Lab at Mahadevi Kanya Pathshala in Dehradun. The facility was an authorised centre for the SSC online exam held on February 13.
STF officials found an underground chamber built inside the UPS room of the lab. This hidden space contained remote access equipment used to bypass examination security.
The gang allegedly demanded payments from candidates based on the grade pay of the specific posts they sought. The STF had earlier arrested two persons, Nitish Kumar and Bhaskar Naithani, in connection with the case.
Bhatnagar had been absconding since the registration of the FIR on February 14 at the Kotwali Nagar police station. The STF team tracked him using technical inputs before executing the arrest in Uttar Pradesh.
The police have registered the case under various sections of the Uttarakhand Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.