Army recruitment paper leak: Thane Police busts racket, arrests over 300; exam stands cancelled

In a late night crackdown across Maharashtra, the Thane Police on Saturday arrested 18 people including two army officials for allegedly leaking the Army recruitment question paper, reports said. The exams have been cancelled following the crackdown.A Pune Mirror report said that the raid were conducted in Nashik, Nagpur, Pune as well as the neighbouring state of Goa. The raids were carried out following a tip-off and police found some students writing the papers at different places in Thane.Among the 18 held for the leak, two are low-ranked army officers, a NewsX report said. This, according to the report, points out to an alleged involvement of army officials in the paper leak.Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Times reported that the police had also arrested over 300 candidates who allegedly bought the leaked paper. Some reports put the number of students arrested to be above 300."The students were allegedly given the exam papers by those who run various coaching classes and some army employees to write the answers in lodges and other places," Senior Police Inspector of Thane Crime Branch Niteen Thackeray said. The students allegedly were to pay Rs two lakh each to the accused for the leaked exam papers.The police is conducting further investigation with those arrested in the raids across the state. Meanwhile, the army too has been informed of the paper leak.The All-India examination for recruitment into the army had to be held on Sunday. However, with the police exposing the paper leak, examination across the county now stands cancelled. No new dates have been announced so far.(With inputs from agencies)