Police bust another copying racket in forest guard exam

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

The city police have busted yet another racket that provided answers to the candidates through the modern devices during the examination for the recruitment of the forest guards. The directors of three coaching academies in the state had been stationed in the city for this examination for the past three days. The candidates were assured to provide answers in the last hour of the examination for Rs 10 lakh. The fraudsters had taken two cheques, one of Rs 5 lakh and the other completely blank from each candidate. This gang of fraudsters had threatened the candidates that they will lodge a case if the cheque will be bounced, it was revealed during the investigation.

The police laid a trap and arrested the accused Amol Dhanraj Nichad (30, Akot, Akola), Annaji Dhanaji Kakade (29, Waduj, Satara), Anil Bharat Kamble (Satara and Sandeep Bhutekar (Satara area, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) red-handed.

Police said Cidco MIDC police received the information on Friday that two persons are coming to provide answers to the candidates for the forest guard examination.

Under the guidance of DCP Sheelwant Nandedkar and PI Gautam Patare, PSI Atmaram Ghuge, Arjun Raut, Pankaj More, Prakash Sonawane, Devidas Kale, Santosh Gaikwad laid a trap in Cidco Bus Stand area. The suspected car was parked on the service road. The team on getting the directives from PI Patare, grabbed the car. Nichad and Kakade were in the car. At the sight of the police, they tried to format their mobile phones, but the police nabbed them before it. The police seized the hall tickets of six candidates, two cheques, and educational and other documents. When the police interrogated them, they immediately told the names of their partners Kamble and Bhutekar, who were staying in a hotel at Baba Petrol Pump Chowk. The police arrested both of them. The car driver, however, managed to flee from the scene. The accused were produced before the court and they have been remanded in the police custody till Monday.

Huge irregularities in recruitment exams

The accused had 12 cheques from six candidates. If they fail to provide answers to the candidates, they return the cheques and their documents to them. Several such hall tickets of candidates from various places in the state were found with the accused.

Bhutekar is the director of Nav Swaraya Academy in Satara. He was arrested by the Pune police in 2021 in relation to the health department examination. Kakade runs Sant Balumam Academy. Amol is the agent, who searched the candidates for them. He was paid Rs 1 lakh for each candidate. Bhutekar and Kamble are ex-servicemen and Amol, who is popularly known as Major in Akola and provides training for the recruitment in Army.

All the accused had a hidden app on their mobile phones. When they are held by the police, an alert message goes to all the persons related to this racket. They get an alert and format their mobile phones and go underground.

Exam centre employees involved?

TCS company has been awarded the contract of conducting all the recruitment examinations. These examinations are conducted through various consultants in various cities. On Wednesday, in the examination held at Bytes Infotech in Suranagar, Nitin Bahure (19, Ghodegaon) was caught copying by using a Makkhi headphone, master card and other devices. His friend Karant Chattarsingh Gusinge (Pimpalwadi) was providing him with answers from outside. Jinsi police station PSI Anil Magare investigated and found that the company employee Abhimanyu Kolke (Chikalthana) had hidden these devices in the bathroom from where Nitin took them. The employee was also arrested. Hence, there is a possibility that the employees would be involved in the copying scam.