From Paper Leak To Training Students, Tech-Savvy ‘Handlers’ Run Exam Racket

PATNA: When it comes to job description, the versatility of a “handler” is no longer limited to airport cargo, the police dog squad, political campaigns, or even a spy ring.

Investigators piecing together the conspiracy behind the NEET-UG paper leak have a handle on how “handlers” operate in the shady realm of the nationwide exam racket whose roots have been traced to Bihar and Jharkhand.”

Once a particular exam got over, they would get to work on identifying the chinks in the system for the next one,” the officer said.”The nine handlers arrested in the NEET-UG case so far – six in Jharkhand and three in Bihar – are tech-savvy individuals who played a crucial role in orchestrating the leak of question papers, training examinees who paid for these to memorise the answers, and even escorting them to their respective centres,” a senior police officer said.

The six handlers arrested from Jharkhand’s Deoghar used to reside in rented accommodation, masquerading as labourers.

Their brief was to ensure the leaked papers reached the intended recipients while maintaining high secrecy and anonymity.Online form submission for entrance exams was introduced nationwide around 2010, replacing the earlier method of sending applications by mail. The older system had loopholes that fraudsters and corrupt officials would easily exploit.

“Before the introduction of online forms, examination conducting agencies would assign roll numbers based on when they received the application envelopes. Criminals exploited this system by sending multiple application forms in a single envelope, using codes like ‘bogie’ and ‘engine’ to refer to candidates and their proxies, respectively,” said an IPS officer of the Bihar cadre.

To expand their client base, these handlers would look for opportunities to connect with coaching centres, schools and colleges on some pretext. They would seek out individuals associated with the exam process, aiming to bribe them into getting useful information.

Bihar Police’s raid on a safe house based on a tip-off on the morning of the May 5 NEET-UG exam threw up evidence of these handlers herding around 30 candidates into this meeting place at Ram Krishna Nagar on Patna’s outskirts on the eve of the test.”

The examinees were there through the night to memorise answers to the leaked question papers. The handlers then transported them to their exam centres in private vehicles, taking all necessary precautions to ensure their safety,” the officer said.

“This strategy ensured that all these candidates were allocated roll numbers for the same examination centre and hall, facilitating cheating.”Another senior IPS officer said paper leaks could occur at various stages-from when these papers are compiled to their storage in bank currency chests before being transported to the exam centres.

He said the older cheating methods included replacing candidates with proxies after videography verification at the exam centres and altering optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets later. “Handlers gathering their clients in one place to memorise answers under their guidance is a new trend.

This is meant to eliminate a paper trail.”Vishal Kumar, an IPS officer formerly with the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) probing the NEET-UG paper leak in Bihar, said three significant gangs were active in the state.

One is suspected to be led by Ranjit Kumar Singh, alias Ranjit Don, accused of masterminding multiple paper leaks before foraying into politics.