1,000 Indians held over exam cheating scam

NEW DELHI: Police in eastern India have arrested around 1,000 aspiring constables for using “middlemen” to sit their exams for them, in the latest cheating scandal to hit Bihar state, an official said on Monday.
Some 50,000 candidates sat the written exams last October for a highly-sought after place in the police force in underdeveloped Bihar, senior superintendent Jitender Rana said by phone from state capital Patna.
But many of those candidates who sat the tough exam were not the same ones who turned up for the next stage of the selection process, Rana told AFP.
“The fraud was detected when the signatures, photographs and fingerprints of the candidates were matched with those who had appeared for the exam,” Rana said.
“We don’t have the exact figures but approximately 1,000 people have been arrested so far over the last few days. These cases are of impersonation and providing false and forged documents.”
While most of those arrested had hired doubles for the exam, others were fingered for submitting documents which turned out to be forged.
The Mail Today tabloid said some candidates had admitted paying nearly 150,000 rupees to so-called middlemen to enable them to clear the exam.