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BHOPAL: A government school teacher from Madhya Pradesh's Paliganj, Ranjan Kumar Gupta, has made news for his involvement in an inter-state Aadhar ID manipulation racket. The racket has allegedly helped candidates from the Gwalior-Chambal region crack the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Police Constable Recruitment Exam.

Gupta had appeared for the recruitment written test in place of ten candidates, including one merit holder who secured 87 out of 100 marks. He is now in police custody in MP’s Sheopur district. However, he was not the only solver from Bihar; at least five other solvers appeared for dozens of candidates in MP. If the solvers cleared the test, candidates would pay them Rs 1 lakh to Rs 4 lakh.

Another solver from Bihar's Gaya-Amrendra Singh 'Baahubali'-- appeared for eight candidates in return for Rs 1 lakh each, provided that the candidate cleared the exam. He is now in police custody in Alirajpur district, following the arrest of Ramrup Gurjar, a candidate who had hired Amrendra for the written test. Ramrup had cracked the 2024 physical proficiency test and had been selected for the constable job.

Both Amrendra and Ramrup are now in MP police custody, revealing the mysteries of multiple inter-state rackets which were run from Morena and Sheopur district of MP’s Gwalior-Chambal region.

Hailing from middle-class families, the solvers from Bihar travelled between Patna and MP by air on tickets booked by the examination’s main racket’s mastermind, Amitabh Rawat and aides in the Gwalior-Chambal region. They were comforted in big hotels and travelled to examination centres across MP in snazzy cars.

“The racket mastermind and aides also took special care of the fun and frolic demanded by the solvers from Bihar during their stay in MP, while they took written exams for actual candidates in different districts for the actual candidates,” a police officer forming a key part of the ongoing probe told TNIE.  

Eyeing to earn big (around Rs 40 lakh after appearing for ten candidates) Ranjan, now feels he has been duped by the mastermind of the racket – Morena district-based Amitabh Rawat – who just like Ranjan is a school teacher, but in addition to it, is the husband of an elected woman village sarpanch in the same northern MP district.

Carrying a Rs 10,000 reward on his arrest, Rawat, who is now on the run. Rawat had made Ranjan appear for ten candidates, but paid him just Rs 4 lakh, claiming that only one of those candidates succeeded in finally clearing the written test.

“Ranjan, however, is confident that he wouldn’t have failed in getting less than 6-7 candidates to pass the 2023 written test to qualify for the 2024 physical proficiency test. The candidates for whom he appeared included at least three close relatives of the racket’s mastermind, Amitabh Rawat. Just like us, Ranjan too is keenly awaiting Rawat’s arrest, but for different reasons,” the police officer confided.

While Rawat, who is a Meena caste strongman in Morena, ran the biggest racket, smaller rackets run by some other caste strongmen (including Thakurs and Gurjars) were also active in other districts of the same northern MP region.

Aadhar manipulation

Authorised e-seva centres formed the backbone of the interstate racket.

Aadhar centres in Delhi, Banda (UP) and various districts of MP’s Gwalior-Chambal region updated the Aadhar IDs of the actual candidates (examinees) just before the written exam by replacing their pictures and biometric data (fingerprints) with that of the solvers.

Once the solvers successfully took the 2023 written exam in place of the actual candidates, the same Aadhar IDs were again updated with pictures and fingerprints of the original candidates.

“The racket particularly tried to first ensure that the solvers available with them somehow resembled the actual candidates. The remaining work was done by the Aadhar centre operators by making facial changes in the pictures of the solvers to make them look like the beneficiary candidates. The swapping of fingerprints perhaps became possible as the system updates the biometric data, even if there is a 60% match between the original and new fingerprints,” sources privy to investigations said.

While the kingpins of the actual racket, like the absconding Amitabh Rawat took Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh from the candidates for ensuring their selection, Rs one lakh to Rs 4 lakh out of it went to the solvers, while the Aadhar centres got sums ranging between Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 per candidate.
 

Unravelling the racket

The 2023 constable recruitment test comprised two parts, including the online written test and the physical proficiency test (PPT). The online written test which was conducted by the MP employee selection board (formerly Vyapam) across MP on different dates in 2023, was taken by over 6.52 lakh candidates, out of which 55,220 candidates qualified for the PPT held between October-November 2024 across the state.

In November 2024, five candidates were found to have sent someone else to take the PPT through Aadhar ID manipulations. Based on that experience, after the declaration of final results in March 2024, the state PHQ made checking the Aadhar ID update history of each finally selected mandatory at the time of their joining the police force.

It was during this process in May that the Aadhaar ID exam impersonation fraud was unearthed.

“So far 21 cases have been registered against 22 such candidates (who managed to get written test cleared through impersonation fraud) in at least ten districts of MP, with the maximum seven cases being lodged in Morena, six in Shivpuri and three in Sheopur (all part of the northern MP or Gwalior Chambal region,” MP IG-Law and Order Anshuman Singh told TNIE.

Out of the 24 arrests so far in different districts, 11 arrests have happened in Sheopur, whose police play a seminal role in cracking the major exam fraud. The 11 arrested men include three solvers (one from Bihar and two from MP), six Aadharcentrer operators from Delhi, MP and UP and two actual beneficiary candidates.

“Out of the 6423 candidates (5090 males and 1333 females) selected for final joining, around 3600 have reported at various police centres across the state for the joining process (which involves checking their character certificate, Aadhar ID history and medical examination). As the investigations are still underway, thousands of selected candidates have to report for joining, more cannot be divulged about the ongoing investigation process.”

Assuring zero tolerance in the matter, the MP CM Dr Mohan Yadav posted on X on Saturday, “Coming to know about irregularities in the Police Constable Recruitment 2023 process, I’ve directed to take strict action. Such criminal acts, in which injustice has been done to competent candidates, will not be tolerated in MP. The PHQ is thoroughly checking the biometric data and Aadhar history of all successful candidates. If prima facie impersonation is found, a criminal case will be registered against the candidates and all other concerned.”

Unanswered questions and future possibilities

According to informed sources, the ongoing questioning of arrested solvers (including those from Bihar and some from MP also) has revealed that they have been active since the last three-four years.

This raises the pertinent question whether they’ve done similar fraud in government recruitment examinations in MP in the past too, particularly some other recruitment exams conducted in 2023 only.

Importantly, the opposition Congress had alleged widespread irregularities in the Patwari recruitment exam of 2023.

Not just MP, the ongoing investigations point towards the possibility of the solvers and the Aadhar centres, being linked to similar exam fraud rackets in states adjoining in MP. If the ongoing probe substantiates it, then the Aadhar ID based impersonation racket could be much bigger than imagined and spread in multiple states.

Further, the six solvers from Bihar, whose involvement (two of them already arrested) have come to the fore, are just some of such solvers who were connected to the main solver Ranjan Kumar Gupta. There could be many more solvers in Bihar, who are known to Ranjan, but actually controlled by some much bigger manager of solvers in the eastern state.