Railway Recruitment Board paper leaked, 275 arrested

Lucknow, Dec 14 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh police arrested 275 people following the leaking of a question paper of the Railway Recruitment Board examination, officials said Sunday.

The arrests were made by the Special Task Force (STF) late Saturday night from the Jhunsi locality of Allahabad while 264 candidates were cracking the question paper in a house on the outskirts of the city.

The examination was slated to be held Sunday but was cancelled after the incident.

'The kingpin, train ticket examiner Bedi Lal was arrested earlier Saturday from Allahabad,' Additional Superintendent of Police (STF) S. Anand told reporters.

'Ten of his associates were arrested from the spot while supervising the crime. The examination was to be held for 665 posts of assistant loco pilots and about 35,000 candidates were to appear for it,' Anand added.

The railways also ran two special trains for ferrying the candidates and declared that a fresh date for the examination would be announced later.

'The examination has been cancelled and we will soon declare a date,' railways spokesperson B. Pandey told IANS.

The police also recovered two original question papers, 180 photocopies of the question paper besides a large number of mobile phones from the spot.

'The youths were caught red-handed while solving the paper,' Anand added.