Patna/Ranchi: Ranchi Police have busted an inter-state solver gang accused of duping candidates in the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) excise constable recruitment examination by falsely claiming a question paper leak. Five accused, including the alleged kingpin Atul Vats, have been arrested in connection with the case.
The arrests come a day after the written examination was conducted across eight districts of Jharkhand on Sunday. Acting on specific intelligence inputs about a possible paper leak, police conducted a late-night raid on Saturday at an under-construction nursing college building in the Tamar area of Ranchi. During the operation, 159 candidates were detained, who were allegedly being provided with a purported question paper and coached to memorise answers.
However, subsequent investigation revealed that the question paper circulated among the candidates was fake. Officials said the gang had struck deals worth Rs 15 lakh per candidate by promising access to leaked papers, resulting in an estimated fraud of Rs 23.85 crore.
Atul Vats, a native of Ghoshi Bandhuganj in Bihar’s Jehanabad district, was reportedly residing in a Boring Road apartment in Patna. Police records indicate that he has prior cases registered against him in Danapur, SK Puri, and Buddha Colony police stations.
Addressing a joint press conference, JSSC Chairman Prashant Kumar, Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri, and Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Ranjan confirmed that the seized question papers did not match the actual exam papers. The commission assigned its secretary and controller of examinations to verify the claims, and no evidence of a leak was found.
Officials said that out of 120 questions in one paper, only four matched partially with the seized documents, while no questions matched in the Hindi paper. In the Khortha language paper, examined separately in Jamshedpur, only one question matched completely and another partially. Authorities said such overlaps can occur in competitive exams and do not indicate a leak.
Police said the gang operated across multiple states, cheating aspirants by passing off fake question papers as leaked ones. Investigations revealed that all arrested accused are from outside Jharkhand and that the kingpin had previously been involved in similar cases.
The JSSC has announced strict action against the detained candidates, stating that all 159 individuals will be debarred from appearing in future examinations conducted by the commission. Legal action will also be initiated under the Jharkhand Competitive Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2023.
Under the provisions of the Act, candidates caught using unfair means can face imprisonment ranging from one to three years along with a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh. In cases involving serious offences like paper leaks, the punishment may extend from 10 years to life imprisonment, along with a fine of up to Rs 1 crore.
Investigators further revealed that Atul Vats had earlier quit a bank probationary officer job and built a network involved in exam fraud, including arranging solvers for medical and engineering entrance exams. He had allegedly learned the modus operandi from a Delhi-based mastermind, Abhishek Singh, who was arrested in connection with irregularities in the 2016 NEET examination.
Vats himself was arrested in 2017 and sent to Tihar Jail following Singh’s interrogation but later resumed operations. In 2020, six members of the gang were arrested by Patna Police with assistance from Haryana Police, though Vats had managed to evade arrest at the time.
Police said the network has links across multiple states, with agents operating on commission. Further investigation is underway to identify more members and unravel the full extent of the racket.
