The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) arrested six individuals concerning the Review Officier/Assistant Review Officer (Preliminary) Examination 2024 paper leak matter. The arrests were made in Prayagraj, following the revelation that the exam papers were leaked from a printing press in Bhopal. The examination was conducted on February 11 by the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission and was canceled on March 2 after the reports of the paper leak emerged.
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The accused face charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy, Uttar Pradesh Public Examination Act, 1998, and the Information Technology Act. In the initial interrogation, the involvement of the schools in Prayagraj came to light where Arpit Vineet Yashwant was responsible for the paper leak. Now, Sunil Raghuvanshi, a mechanical engineer at the printing press in Bhopal, and his former classmates including Subhash Prakash, Vishal Dubey, Sandeep Pandey, Amarjeet Sharma, and Vivek Upadhyay were arrested in the paper leak case.
The mastermind behind the leak, Rajeev Nayan Mishra was arrested on April 3. The interrogation revealed that Sunil Raghuvanshi was bribed by Rajeev Nayan Mishra and others for 10 lakh rupees. As per the reports, Sunil monitored the printing process and waited under the guise of repairing the printing machine. On February 3, he got the opportunity to take part of the machine outside for repair and hid the question paper in his water bottle.
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Reportedly, the candidates were supposed to study the leaked paper in Bhopal under Sunil’s supervision to prevent the widespread dispersal of the paper. The leaked paper was solved at Komal Hotel in Bhopal on February 8 in the presence of aspirants who paid Rs 12 lakh to get the set. The other accused Vishal Dubey and Subhash Mishra took photos of the question paper and sent them to the mastermind Rajeev Nayan Mishra via WhatsApp, leading to the paper going viral on social media.