A major exam cheating racket has been uncovered by the Patna Police. The investigation revealed that some bank officials were using an “exam mafia” to pass departmental promotion exams.
On June 21, the Rupaspur Police and the Special Task Force (STF) arrested four members of the gang from Patna and Bhagalpur.
During the investigation, police examined mobile phones and documents recovered from the accused. They found that the gang was in contact with more than two dozen bank employees from Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh.
Bank officials have to clear departmental exams to get increments in salary and benefits in promotions. These exams are conducted online. According to the police, the gang arranged to manipulate these exams and guarantee that candidates passed.
The gang charged between ₹7 lakh and ₹8 lakh from each bank official. They collected an advance payment of ₹2 lakh to ₹3 lakh along with the candidate’s educational certificates. The remaining amount was paid after the candidate successfully passed the exam.
One of the arrested accused, Amit Chaudhary, told police that he had links with five online examination centres in Patna, Ranchi, and Deoghar. The gang allegedly used these centres to manipulate the online exams. Patna Police are now investigating these examination centres.
Departmental promotion exams for bank officials are held twice every year, in June and December. During the investigation, police found evidence of cheating in the CAIIB examination conducted by the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF).
JAIIB and CAIIB exams are conducted by IIBF and if Bank employees clear these exams, they get increment in salary. Every years lacs of Bank employees appear for these exams.
According to the police, bank officials Om Prakash and Amit Kaushik transferred ₹2.33 lakh and ₹1 lakh, respectively, to the bank accounts of accused Karan and Raj to clear the CAIIB exam.
Police recovered admit cards of 25 bank officials from the mobile phones of the accused. They also seized 22 blank cheques, around 10 mobile phones, and more than two dozen educational certificates.
The 22 blank cheques belonged to bank officials working in different banks across Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Police have collected details of these cheques from the concerned banks. The officials who issued the cheques will be questioned. The educational certificates recovered during the raid are also being verified.
So far, the STF and Rupaspur Police have arrested several people in the case, including Praveen Shekhar alias Golu from Shahpur, Amit Chaudhary from Khajekalan, Karan Kumar from Bihta, Raj from Digha, and Manoj Kumar from Phulwarisharif.
Police said Amit Chaudhary is the main accused and the leader of the gang. A separate case has also been registered against him in Ranchi.
Amit holds a B.Tech degree. After failing to get a job, he started an online examination centre in Patna under the name Manomaya Sun Infotech Pvt. Ltd. The centre closed after a few months, after which he allegedly formed a gang to manipulate competitive examinations.
Police are now preparing to take Amit Chaudhary and Praveen Shekhar into custody on remand for further investigation.
