UP STF busts organised cheating racket in competitive examinations | Lucknow News

Lucknow: With the arrest of nine people, including the kingpin, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) busted an organised cheating racket involved in manipulating competitive examinations by using forged Persons with Disabilities (PwD) certificates and deploying writers, officials said on Wednesday.The action was carried out following specific intelligence inputs regarding irregularities in the CBSE-conducted EMRS (Eklavya Model Residential Schools) Tier-II Junior Secretariat Assistant examination and other competitive tests. According to STF officials, the gang operated across multiple districts, including Jhansi and Jalaun, and targeted unemployed youth by promising them govt jobs in exchange for hefty sums. The accused allegedly arranged fake PwD certificates through middlemen and falsely declared candidates as disabled to avail the facility of writers during examinations. “These writers were not genuine helpers but professional solvers who would write answers on behalf of candidates, ensuring their selection through unfair means,” an STF officer said. Acting on a tip-off, an STF team under the supervision of deputy superintendent of police Vimal Kumar Singh conducted a raid at an examination centre located at Central Academy, Sector-4, Vikas Nagar. Eight suspects were detained from the centre and later taken to Vikas Nagar police station for questioning. Based on their interrogation, another accused was brought from Gorakhpur and subsequently arrested. During the operation, STF seized 13 mobile phones, two laptops, Rs 2.70 lakh cash, a Swift Dzire car, and six forged PwD certificates. “During interrogation, the alleged kingpin, Manish Mishra, confessed that the gang specialised in placing trained solvers as writers in offline examinations to solve question papers for candidates posing as PwD applicants,” said SSP, STF, Ghule Sushil Chandrabhan.