Jharkhand exam racket: Accused middleman reveals involvement of teachers

The middleman, who was arrested by Jharkhand police for helping two Class 12 students write the board examination from home, has said some school teachers were also involved in the cheating racket and that big money exchanged hands.

Bokaro police busted the racket after arresting Pradyuman Pandey, who was carrying answer sheets from homes of two intermediate examinees for submission at the examination centre - Industrial Area High School in Balidih - on Tuesday.

"Pandey runs a private school in Balidih and he divulged that he was involved in the racket for money with help of some school teachers.

He said a teacher of the school Madan Sau used to help him in the job," Balidih police station in-charge AK Singh said, adding Pandey was yet to reveal the money he used to charge the students.

Police were interrogating Pandey, who also indicated the involvement of education department and administrative officials. Based on Pandey's statement, police have also lodged an FIR against the two students.

The two students have been identified as Aman Kumar and Sushmita Kumari, who apparently got the question papers well in advance and wrote the exam at home. They have been marked absent.

Jharkhand exam racket lets you cheat from the comfort of your home

The



centre superintendent and accused students are yet to be arrested.

"Procedures will be followed to arrest them," Singh said, adding, interrogation of Pandey was on and they were expecting more revelations.

Meanwhile, all teachers at Industrial Area High School have been removed from the examination duty after Pandey's revelation of teachers' involvement in the racket.

"There were 22 teachers in the school. We have removed all from the examination duty and new teachers from other schools of Bokaro have been deputed for the job," Bokaro district education officer, Mahip Kumar Singh, said.

Use of unfair means has been reported since the beginning of the examination in Jharkhand. More than 300 students have been expelled for unfair practices in the state so far.

On February 20, pictures of class 12 English question paper went viral on WhatsApp, hardly 30 minutes after the exams began, raising concerns about the use of tech gadgets and mobile phones by students in examination halls.

The Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) board exams for matriculation (class 10) and intermediate (class 12) began on February 18. Nearly eight lakh students are appearing for the exams, which end on March 7, across 1385 centres in the state.