LIC exam paper leaked : Recruitment test now deferred

An Inter-State gang was busted on Sunday with the arrest of one person in the Capital and five in Hyderabad for leaking the question paper of an all-India recruitment examination. Pawan Kumar, a 33-year-old former student of Delhi University, who allegedly sold the question paper to four aspirants for Rs. 5 lakh each, was arrested on Sunday.

The question papers were leaked in the Capital ahead of the examination taken by 1.65 lakh aspirants on Sunday for the post of assistant administrative officer in the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). The test was conducted at 160 centres across the country including 16 in Delhi. The four candidates, who allegedly bought the question papers from Kumar are also facing arrest, police said.

Five persons were also arrested in Hyderabad, including a teacher from Uttar Pradesh, for allegedly leaking the question paper. The incident came to light after the Delhi Police’s crime branch got hold of copies of two sets of question papers for both the morning and afternoon sessions on Saturday. They arrested Kumar from a hideout in Naraina.

“ When we tallied the leaked papers with the original question paper, they were found to be the same. The candidates are being interrogated. They are likely to be arrested soon,” Ashok Chand, DCP (Crime), said. The police went to three centres in Delhi and one in Chandigarh to cross- check the genuineness of the question papers. The candidates who allegedly benefitted have been identified as Inderjit, Rahul Kumar, Praveen and Dharamvir, the police officer said.

The four aspirants have a sound academic background. Inderjeet is an MBA, Dharamveer an MA-B.Ed while Praveen is an MPhil and Rahul holds a BA degree.

The person who handed over the parcel of question papers to Kumar has been identified as Arun Parashal and the police are questioning him. DCP Chand said Kumar had earlier appeared for the civil services examination but failed to clear it. Since 2005, he had been running the racket and was arrested for impersonation in the Delhi Pre- Medical Entrance Test the same year.

Three of the suspect candidates were to appear for the test in Delhi at the Kendriya Vidyalayas in Andrews Ganj, R. K. Puram and Janakpuri centres while one was to appear in a centre in Chandigarh. The examination is being conducted by EDCIL, a public sector company, under the HRD ministry.

“ The Educational Consultants India Limited (EDCIL) will decide whether to cancel the tests after the police investigation is over,” Anju Banerjee, chairperson and managing director (EDCIL), said.