Wednesday, 05 April 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) on Tuesday arrested fifth accused in the forest guard recruitment examination cheating case 2021 from Haryana. The arrested accused named Praveen Kumar Rana leased the Swami Darshananand Institute of Management and Technology (SDIMT in Haridwar, one of the examination centres where UKSSSC conducted examination, said the senior superintendent of police of STF, Ayush Agrawal. He said that the accused has revealed in the preliminary investigation that he, along with his accomplice Nishant Chaudhary, allegedly took the SDIMT on lease for 11 months at the rate of Rs 50 for each computer to ensure the online forest guard exams are conducted there.
Subsequently, they contacted the online examination conducting agency NSEIT and reportedly signed an agreement with it to conduct examinations there. A total of 150 candidates participated in the online examination there from July 16 to July 25, 2021 in various phases where many candidates cheated with the help of lab technician Sachin, arrested earlier by STF, said Agrawal. He said that each candidate paid between Rs eight lakh to Rs 10 lakh to Rana and his accomplice. The SSP said that NSEIT agency allegedly paid Rs 1.71 lakh to Rana for conducting examination but he did not make any payment to SDIMT and fled along with his accomplice. Rana is a property dealer in Haryana and met his accomplice Chaudhary in 2020, who belongs to Uttar Pradesh after which they allegedly hatched the plan to conduct cheating in the examination in 2021, said Agrawal.
The STF is checking the criminal history of the accused. STF registered a case in the cyber police station in September last year against the alleged irregularities found in the online forest guard recruitment examination after initial investigation in other UKSSSC cheating cases confirmed the cheating in the exam. The STF has already arrested four accused in this case. Agrawal said that this is the 56th arrest in UKSSSC recruitment examination cheating cases.
