Gang Hired 150 'Exam Solvers' For Students Seeking Government Jobs

New Delhi: Four men have been arrested in a case involving the alleged leakage of online exam papers for recruitment in government jobs, over which massive protests were held across the country by lakhs of aspirants last month.

The exam -- commonly called SSC CGL exam -- is held every year by a government organisation called the Staff Selection Commission or the SSC, for recruitment in posts like tax inspectors, clerical staff and accountants. It is one of the most popular exams, for which lakhs of candidates appear.

The arrests took place last night from north Delhi's Timarpur area. The police said the men had hired around 150 people to hack the system, access the papers, and solve them. The gang was charging Rs 10 to 15 lakh from each candidate, the police said. Rs 50 lakh in cash, a laptop and ten cellphones were seized from them following a joint operation by the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh police.

Last month, students held massive protests outside the SSC office in Delhi, claiming the papers of the exam that was to be held from February 17 to 22, were leaked. They cited screenshots of the objective questions and answers that were doing the rounds on WhatsApp long before the exam was over.

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Initially, the chairman of the SSC denied this, calling the allegations "totally mischievous and baseless". But it also rescheduled the exams.

As protests by students spread from Delhi to other cities and the opposition parties lent support to them, the government ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

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The SSC makes recruitment for Group B (non-gazetted) and Group C (non-technical) posts in the government. It also conducts exam for the recruitment for Group B (gazetted) posts of assistant accounts officer and assistant audit officer for the Indian Audit and Accounts Department.