Ranchi police bust high-tech SSC GD exam racket, six held

Ranchi, May 10
A major scam has come to light in the Staff Selection Commission’s (SSC) General Duty online examination in Jharkhand’s capital, Ranchi, where answers were allegedly being solved automatically through remote access, officials said on Sunday.

Ranchi police have arrested six people following a raid at an online examination centre in the Pandara police outpost area.

The raid was conducted at the Futuristic Online Examination Centre near Piska More after Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Ranjan received specific inputs about large-scale irregularities during the examination, which took place on Saturday.

Acting on his directions, a special team was formed under the leadership of City SP Paras Rana.

According to police, during the first shift of the examination, invigilators noticed suspicious behaviour by some of the candidates. They observed that while the candidates continued to stare at their computer screens, the answers to the questions were being filled in automatically, raising suspicions of technical manipulation or external interference.

Following the alert, the matter was immediately reported to the police, who launched the investigation.

Examination officials also lodged a complaint regarding the irregularities. Police teams rushed to the centre and inspected the computer systems, network setup and other electronic equipment.

During the verification, six persons were detained for their alleged involvement in the malpractice. Those arrested include individuals associated with the operation or technical management of the examination centre, apart from candidates.

Several computers and electronic devices have been seized from the site and are being prepared to be sent for forensic examination to determine the exact method used to manipulate the exam.

Police said a detailed investigation is underway to find out whether the racket has links to other states or examination centres alone.

Officials said the entire network involved in the alleged scam will be exposed soon as the probe progresses.

Police authorities will hold a press conference later in the day at 4 p.m. to reveal more details about the scam.