Bulldozers in action in Rajasthan
Bulldozers moved in early this morning in Rajasthan's Jaipur to raze a coaching centre allegedly linked to the massive leak of a teachers' recruitment exam paper last year.
Within hours, the Adhigham Coaching Institute was reduced to rubble. The owners of the institute, Bhupendra saran and Suresh Dhaka, are missing. They are wanted for allegedly leaking the senior teachers' exam question paper on December 24.
More than 50 people have been arrested for the leak.
But the masterminds are missing, and to send out a tough message, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot replicated what he had once criticised his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan for - using bulldozers on those accused of a crime.
The teachers' recruitment exam scandal exploded last month, weeks after the Rajasthan Public Service commission started the process to recruit 9,760 senior teachers for state government schools.
More than 12 lakh people applied for the posts and the exams were to be held between December 21 and 27.
On December 24, the police in Udaipur, acting on a tip-off, found that nearly 40 people travelling in a bus had already accessed the general knowledge questions of an exam to be held on December 24.
The exam was cancelled and everyone on the bus was arrested, along with six or seven dummy candidates and government teachers who were allegedly working in tandem like a well-organised gang.
Investigations led the police to Suresh Bishnoi, who was arrested in Jodhpur.
The police believe the general knowledge question paper was supplied to Suresh Bishnoi through Suresh Dhaka and Bhupendra Saran, who ran the Adhigham coaching institute. The building, owned by one Anil Agarwal, was demolished today.
"We served them two notices, this building has illegal encroachments, they have encroached on the main road," said Raghuveer Saini, who heads the Jaipur Development Authority's enforcement wing.
In April last year, Ashok Gehlot had voiced his criticism when the Madhya Pradesh government used bulldozers to target the homes of people accused of stone-throwing during a religious procession in Khargone.
"Who gave you the right? Even the Chief Minister and the Prime Minister do not have the right to demolish someone's house without investigation. There will be many innocents too, what would happen to them," Mr Gehlot had said at an event.