Gujarat junior clerk exam paper leak: ATS nabs 30 candidates based on documents seized in Jan 29 raid

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested 30 persons on Thursday for allegedly buying the leaked question paper of the state’s junior clerk recruitment exam, which was cancelled hours before it was to take place on January 29, an official said.

Earlier, 19 persons, including agents and middlemen, were arrested for cheating, criminal offences and other offences after the leak was detected in January and they continue to be behind bars, the official said.

During a raid on a computer centre in Vadodara in January in connection with the paper leak, the call letters, blank cheques and original documents of these 30 candidates, including seven women, were seized, and they were placed under arrest on Thursday after probe and verification, as per an ATS release.

It said these 30 persons had agreed to pay between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 15 lakh to those involved in the paper leak, and the blank cheques and original certificates were submitted as ”guarantees”.

Most of these candidates belong to north and central Gujarat districts, like Mehsana, Aravalli, Kheda, Dahod, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Chhotaudepur and Mahisagar, the release added.

As many as 9.53 lakh candidates were scheduled to appear for the exams that were being conducted by the Gujarat Panchayat Service Commission on January 29 across the state to recruit 1,181 junior clerks.

Based on a tip-off, the ATS had detained a suspect and recovered a copy of the question paper during the early hours of January 29, after which the exam was cancelled.

Among those held were a native of Odisha, the employee of a printing press in Hyderabad in Telangana, two residents of Vadodara city, including one who operated a computer centre, which was raided as part of the leak probe in the early hours of January 29.

While 15 persons were held at the time of the raid, four accused were held sometime later, as per police.