Papers sold for up to Rs 15 lakh each in 'Vyapam' of Uttarakhand, 32 held

DEHRADUN: A former cook, bus conductor, auto-rickshaw driver, factory worker, and a school teacher have emerged as key members of a team that pulled off one of the biggest scams to have rocked Uttarakhand, worth roughly over Rs 200 crore - the Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission paper leak. The spread of the corruption has led many to compare it with MP's 'Vyapam' incident of 2013, perhaps one of the biggest entrance test scandals.
Authorities till Friday have arrested 32 people in the case, which saw the leaked papers being sold to over 200 candidates for Rs 10-15 lakh each. A copy of the paper was allegedly leaked by the owner and a staffer of a Lucknow-based tech-solutions private firm, which the government broke ties with after the matter came to light.
"Masterminds" of the scam have been identified as Hakam Singh, his close aide and UP-based cheating mafia member Kendrapal, Chandan Manral, Manoj Joshi, and Jagdish Goswami. Most of them reportedly built properties worth at least Rs 50 crore each with the ill-gotten wealth. They were allegedly in this business for the past 10 years.
Hakam, who is one of the main-accused, hails from the Uttarkashi. He was earlier a member of the Uttarkashi zila panchayat and a member of BJP before being expelled by the party after his arrest. An official said he was a cook of ex-Uttarkashi DM in 2002. He became a "close-circle staffer" of the DM, who took him to Haridwar, where he was later posted. "While living there, he met the UP-based cheating mafia and one of the accused, Kendrapal, in 2011. With his help, he started leaking question papers of competitive exams for hefty amounts," said the officer.