New Delhi, Jan. 8: The CBI has arrested five persons on charges of leaking the question papers of the Central Reserve Police Force recruitment examination.

The CRPF has cancelled the examination for the recruitment of around 3,000 constables, scheduled to be held in Hyderabad and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh today and Chennai, Madurai and Vellore in Tamil Nadu tomorrow.

This is the third instance of question paper leak in recent times. The combined admission test and a railway recruitment examination had suffered the same fate.

Those arrested include three CRPF personnel — Suraj Bhan, the stenographer for the CRPF’s Hyderabad deputy inspector-general, sub-inspector Anand Kumar and constable Gopi Ram — as well as former head constable Mahavir Singh and Sanyasi Rao, who runs a private coaching centre.

The sleuths seized Rs 40,000 during searches last night at the Langar House residence of Mahavir Singh. The quarters at the CRPF Group Centre at Chandrayangutta in Hyderabad were also searched. CBI officers said the Hyderabad DIG was not in the Andhra Pradesh capital when the raids took place.

The accused were allegedly demanding Rs 40,000 from a candidate for getting him a job in one of the largest paramilitary forces in the world.

CBI sources said the leaked papers have tallied with the genuine ones after two sets of papers were matched. Normally, one set of papers would be distributed in a group centre, which comprises a state. Another state might have a different set of papers.

Primary investigations point to Suraj Bhan being instrumental in procuring the papers. Bhan is alleged to have taken photocopies of the paper before it was sealed.

Bhan then handed the papers over to Anand Kumar, who sold them to Mahavir Singh for Rs 1 lakh, sources alleged. Singh then contacted Rao to approach prospective candidates through touts to sell the papers.

The accused had sold the paper to one candidate, sources said.

Sleuths grilled the accused to ascertain whether or not they had leaked papers in the past.