13 held for KVS paper leak in Rewari; exam cancelled

Tribune News Service & PTI

Rewari/New Delhi, October 4

The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) cancelled a written examination held today for recruitment of primary teachers after the Rewari police busted a gang of 13 persons involved in the paper leak. The exam was held at 158 centres across the country today.

Rewari Superintendent of Police Balwan Singh said the gang had struck a deal for Rs 4 lakh each with several candidates to help them qualify the exam by providing them the key to the paper. The suspects were nabbed near BMG Mall while solving the question paper in four vehicles early in the morning. The question paper recovered from them was the same that was given in the examination.

The police also seized Rs 4 lakh, four vehicles, a motorcycle, two laptops, 29 mobile phones, 10 SIM cards, notebooks and photocopies of admit cards of several candidates from the suspects’ possession, he added

An official statement from the KVS stated that it had received information from the Rewari police about the gang allegedly involved in the paper leak and recovery of incriminating material from them.

“Yesterday evening, it was brought to the notice of KVS that the question paper of PRT exam has been leaked and its soft version is circulating on internet messaging application WhatsApp,” the statement said. However, it has not yet been notified as to when the test for recruitment to the posts of primary teachers will be held again.

The candidates who struck a deal with the gang would also be arrested while WhatsApp messages of the suspects’ mobile phones were also being examined to find out other information, the Rewari SP said. Singh said the suspects were also planning to get a paper of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) leaked from Alwar (Rajasthan) in coming days. The solved question paper of the SSC was to be provided to candidates for Rs 6 lakh, he claimed.

The suspects — Vijay Bhurthala, Ashish and Sumit , Avdesh, Pawan, Sujaan, Jitender, Vikran, Sandeep, Narender, Neeraj, Rajkumar and Surender — have been booked for forgery and under the Information Technology Act.