Jind: Four youths from Haryana’s Jind district have been arrested in connection with alleged malpractice during an ‘Indian Air Force‘ recruitment examination in Chennai. The four are accused of appearing for candidates during the Agniveer Vayu written examination held on August 2 at the Air force station in Avadi of Chennai, and using tiny modern electronic devices to facilitate cheating.The arrested accused have been identified as Gaurav and Sawan, both residents of Thua village of Uchana Kalan, Anil, also and Deepak, a resident of Alewa village, all are from Jind.The examination was conducted under the Agniveer scheme for recruitment to posts including lower division clerk (LDC) and, in some cases, civilian mechanical transport driver. Although only four posts were to be filled, around 1,800 candidates from across the country appeared for the examination.The alleged racket came to light during routine and multi-level verification of hall tickets and admit cards. Although the accused managed to clear the initial security check at the entrance, an invigilator conducting a second-level verification inside the examination hall noticed a clear mismatch between the photograph on a candidate’s admit card and the person appearing for the examination.Sources said that the person was identified as 21-year-old R. Gaurav, a resident of Thua village in Jind district was allegedly appearing for S. Aman Kumar. Gaurav was taken into custody and brought to the room where he and his associates were staying. During a search and subsequent questioning, the involvement of three more persons from Jind district came to light.Officials immediately identified and detained the three others. 27-year-old Anil, a resident of Jind district, was allegedly appearing for Sunil. 25-year-old Sawan, also from Thua village, and 24-year-old Deepak Kumar a resident of Ramna Patti in Alewa, were allegedly using concealed electronic devices.Sawan and Deepak were caught with extremely small electronic devices concealed inside their ears. Both had inserted SIM-enabled GSM earpieces measuring less than one centimetre inside their ears. The wireless devices were reportedly designed to receive answers transmitted from outside the examination hall.Officials also recovered other equipment, including a Bluetooth dual-SIM GSM box, Bluetooth earpieces, eight mobile phones and 10 SIM cards. It is suspected that the signal jammer installed at the examination centre rendered the devices ineffective, preventing the accused from receiving assistance during the test.During questioning, the accused allegedly admitted that each of them had received an advance payment of Rs 50,000 for either appearing as a proxy candidate or assisting in cheating through electronic devices. They were allegedly promised the remaining payment after the original candidates completed the recruitment process and secured jobs, said sources.All four accused had travelled to Avadi together and were staying at the same place. Several bags containing prohibited devices and related equipment were recovered from the premises.After completing their preliminary inquiry, officials of the Indian Air Force handed over all four accused to the police. A case has been registered against them. The accused were produced before a magistrate and sent to judicial custody.Police are now investigating whether the group is part of a larger interstate examination-cheating network. Investigators are trying to identify the original candidates who allegedly hired the proxies, the middlemen who arranged the impersonators and supplied the high-tech devices, and the full extent of the racket.Talking to TOI, Jind SP Kuldeep Singh told that police have collected details two of the accuseds named in the FIR and efforts are in to get more information about remaining persons.
