On Monday, police arrested Gadag Municipal College vice-principal Maruti Sonawane, his son Samitkumar, and examination supervisor Amareshchandra Rajoor, all from Gadag-Betageri, for allegedly aiding candidates to write exams with the help of high-tech gadgets.
Police have arrested three candidates so far. “We’ve traced 10 candidates involved in the scam. The rest will be taken into custody soon,” a police officer said.
On August 10, police arrested a candidate from Naganur in Gokak taluk of Belagavi district based on CCTV footage in which he was found taking pictures of the question paper on his smartwatch.
During investigation, he reportedly said that he sent the pictures to his friends in a farmhouse in Shirahatti village in Hukkeri taluk in Belagavi district through a mobile application.
After his confession about using Bluetooth for writing answers, police raided the Shirahatti farmhouse and seized question papers, UPS and other materials. Based on the serial number of the question paper, police found the connection with the Gadag-based college.
Police said their preliminary investigation has revealed that at least three groups were operating.
Group was active in NK reg, Uttara Kannada
The groups collected Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh from candidates to provide answers using electronic gadgets, including smartwatches and Bluetooth devices, to crack the examination. The group is suspected to have operated largely in Belagavi, Gadag, and Uttar Kannada districts.
According to police, Samitkumar allegedly entered one of the examination centres in Gadag in the guise of a journalist and leaked the examination paper after taking its picture. They said it’s yet to be investigated why the jammers installed in many examination centres were non-functional during the examination.
The groups had hired professors to quickly find answers and communicate to the candidates. “We traced one professor from Belagavi and will arrest him soon,” police said.
Sources said two of the arrested persons were also allegedly involved in the police sub-inspector recruitment scam that came to light in October 2021. Both are out on bail now.
