Lucknow, Sept 21: An assistant proctor of Uttar Pradesh’s most prestigious technical institute after IIT Kanpur has been arrested for allegedly heading a gang that leaked papers of a teachers’ job exam.

Raghvendra Kumar of Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology in Allahabad is a member of a panel of professors that sets questions for the exam to recruit teachers for Classes V-X in state government schools. The teaching jobs, which have starting salaries of around Rs 15,000, are much sought after.

Kumar was held today along with seven others, including an Allahabad High Court advocate and an Allahabad University clerk. Twelve others picked up in raids after one such test — called the Trained Graduate Teachers examination — yesterday afternoon were let off after questioning.

Allahabad additional SP R.K. Singh said the candidates were charged Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for the papers. The gang also offered help in solving the questions and even provided accommodation to outstation candidates when they came for the tests to Allahabad.

The police said the gang had been working for the past three years, raising the possibility that many undeserving candidates may have cleared the test and got jobs.

A sum of Rs 2 lakh was seized from Kumar’s house, described by the sleuths as “big”. He also owns three cars, the police said.

“Kumar’s role is being probed further. Besides those arrested, members of the gang are spread across the districts. They got in touch with aspirants, promised them smooth sailing in the tests, brought them to Allahabad and put them up,” a police officer said.