New Delhi: A man was arrested and at least 32 students were bound down after Delhi Police busted an alleged exam-solving racket operating from an apartment in Dwarka, officials said on Wednesday.The group is suspected of using remote desktop applications to enable candidates to cheat in online entrance examinations for top govt and private colleges in Delhi and other states.According to police, the students belonged to some of the country’s leading institutions, including IIT, Delhi Technological University, Maharaja Agrasen College, National Institute of Technology, MIT, Motilal Nehru College, Jamia Millia Islamia, among others. All were bound down as part of the investigation.“Being bound down means the individual is required to appear before the investigating officer whenever called and must inform the police before leaving the city,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Kushal Pal Singh said.Police acted on information about suspicious activity on two floors of a building in Dwarka’s Sector 23 and conducted a raid. Around 32 students present at the location were found to have been called in to solve questions.DCP Singh said during the inquiry, a man identified as Harsh Vardhan, 28, admitted to arranging candidates to appear for entrance examinations of a reputed management institute in Mumbai.Vardhan told police that the examination was scheduled to be conducted at an IT lab in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and that he accessed the lab’s computer systems using remote access software. He further revealed that the exam was to be held on April 7 and that the candidates’ admit cards were in his possession.An associate, identified as Pranjal, allegedly recruited college students as “paper solvers” under the pretext of solving questions from online competitive exam preparation platforms. These students were reportedly paid between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 per question.Preliminary investigation points to a well-organised racket involving cheating in online examinations through remote access software, impersonation and outsourcing of question-solving.During interrogation, police found that the gang targeted aspirants who failed to clear competitive exams but were keen to secure admission to prestigious colleges. The accused allegedly struck deals with such candidates and manipulated online examination centres. For engineering entrance examinations, the gang reportedly charged about Rs 2 lakh per candidate.According to police, after gaining control of the examination centre’s systems, members of the racket provided real-time answers to candidates during the test. “We are verifying the exact number of examinations in which they may have been involved,” the DCP said.
