Doctor accused in Vyapam scam mastermind behind UPTET paper leak, arrested again

The STF officials stated that the doctor had already served jail term for his involvement in the Vyapam scam of Madhya Pradesh, for which eight cases are lodged against him in Gwalior, Indore and Jabalpur.

The doctor had received his MBBS degree from Delhi Medical College, after which he joined the solvers' syndicate and made quick money by deputing 'munnabhais' (imposters) and rigging OMR sheets of Madhya Pradesh Pre-Medical Test (PMT) in 2013-2014, which came to be known as the Vyapam case. After the scam was busted, the doctor was subsequently jailed.

The Additional Director General (ADG) of STF, Amitabh Yash confirmed his recent arrest and stated, "The STF team arrested the doctor, one of the masterminds behind the UP TET paper leak case. The doctor was the person who received the question paper a day before the exam and circulated it. He is a native of Agra and is a qualified medical doctor."

The UP TET paper was scheduled to be held on November 28, however it was leaked a few hours before the exam on social media. The state government then cancelled the examination, and handed over the investigation of the leak case to the STF, reports Hindustan Times.

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According to a media report in the Times of India, an FIR was registered against the doctor in Kaushambi district after his name cropped up the leak case. As per sources, he was in sync with the corrupted exam controller, Sanjay Kumar Upadhyay, who was posted in Prayagraj.

The blueprint for leaking the exam paper was prepared years ago in a prison in Madhya Pradesh, where he shared his mobile number with another accused in the Vyapam case, Vikas Dixit. The ADG said, "It was Dixit, who put him through to the scamster duo of Rahul Mishra and Anurag Sharma in February, 2021, and they met in Noida. Rahul was adept at leaking question papers of government jobs and had links with printers."

Ground intelligence along with mobile surveillance data of the suspects was used by the STF to nab the accused in the incident. The ADG added, "When the doctor came to know about the paper leak, he destroyed his mobile phone and left Uttar Pradesh. He kept moving to different places. However, we learned from intelligence sources that he is coming to Lucknow. Our team acted on the intelligence and arrested him."

During questioning, the doctor confessed to have visited Lucknow in the last week of October, adding that he handed over Rs 3 lakh to Rahul, who was confident that he would be able to access the TET question paper from the printing press.

The officer said, "Then the doctor met another conduit, Roshan Patel, in Prayagraj, who promised to deliver the UPTET paper on WhatsApp for circulation among exam aspirants in east UP."

The doctor told the STF that over Rs 10 lakh was earned by him by sharing the question paper that he received from another accused through an online messaging application. He deleted the app after receiving the question, and then eventually circulated it among few people.

The officer said, "We are also trying to get details of transactions made from his bank accounts to track other accused in this case."

Around 34 people from Prayagraj, Shamli, Lucknow, Ayodhya, Kaushambi, Noida and Baghpat districts have been arrested by the STF in the paper leak case, report HT.

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