REET 2023: Rajasthan Police arrest 37 people in Jodhpur over alleged paper leak attempt

Rajasthan Police on Sunday arrested 37 people, including students, from Jodhpur in an alleged attempt to leak the REET 2023 exam. The police conducted a raid at a marriage hall early Saturday after they received the information that some students are in an attempt to leak teachers’ recruitment examination.

According to the reports, the police raided Udaygarh Marriage Palace in the Mandore area just hours before the exam was due to be held following a tip-off that the question paper was being leaked to some students who were staying there. All these students had to appear in the first shift of the examination.

Amrita Duhan, DCP East, stated that the questionnaire found from those arrested did not match the actual question paper, and that further investigation was underway.

According to Duhan, the police seized a laptop, a printer, and some papers with answers. The gang’s leader, Suresh Thori, who is from Raimalwada in the Osian tehsil, claimed to have bought the paper from Praveen Bishnoi of Jalore for Rs 40 lakh and had paid Rs 10 lakh in advance. Bishnoi is absconding as of now.

She said that Thori had allegedly entered a deal with the students to provide the papers to them for Rs 3 lakh to 8 lakh.

Duhan also stated that the marriage hall’s manager and owner, as well as a computer operator named Mukesh Joshi and three other people who were assigned to solve the paper, have all been arrested.

Duhan said the accused have been booked under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 10 (2) of the Rajasthan Public Examination Act.

The REET Mains exam is being conducted for the recruitment of 48,000 third-grade teachers. Reportedly, around 2 lakh candidates appeared for the morning shift, and nearly 9 lakh were expected to appear for the afternoon shift.