Bhubaneswar, Sept. 15: Police today arrested three members of an organised gang from Warangal in Telangana for allegedly appearing in a written test of regional rural banks in the city.
The accused included a graduate from the NIT and another fourth-year BTech student of the institute, who had allegedly taken the test in place of the actual candidates on August 13. The three accused are from Bihar and the police are trying to nab the gang's mastermind, who is believed to be staying in Delhi.
The police arrested Rohit Kumar, 22, the fourth-year BTech student at NIT Rourkela and Rahul Kumar, 22, a management graduate, for whom Rohit took the test conducted by the TCS. The cops also arrested Harsha Bardhan, 26, a graduate from NIT Patna. He had appeared for another aspirant, identified as Amit Kumar Sharma.
The police said Bardhan, a 2011-batch student of NIT Patna, worked in the HR department of a private company before leaving his job a few months ago. He now imparts online coaching in Chennai - for which he charges Rs 200 an hour.
The police said the TCS employees got suspicious and detained both Bardhan and Rohit at the examination centre. "Bardhan had even applied cello tape on his left thumb to match the thumb impression of the aspirant on behalf of whom he tried to take the test," said a senior police official.
Further investigation by the police revealed that both Bardhan and Rohit were paid Rs 50,000 each, along with free air tickets and free stay in a star hotel for taking the test on the applicants' behalf.
"Bardhan is very good at solving questions related to general knowledge and aptitude. Both of them admitted that they had appeared as proxy in a number of written examinations of bank and Odisha Staff Selection Commission," said a police official.
The police found that Rohit was engaged by another person from Bihar to appear for the written test on behalf of Rahul Kumar.
"We suspect the involvement of a well-organised gang behind sending proxy candidates in various competitive examinations. We will investigate further to trace the origin of the racket, and if necessary, we will bring Bardhan and Rohit in remand for further questioning," said deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi.
