In a nationwide crackdown on a dummy candidate racket linked to alleged irregularities in a 2022 teacher recruitment examination in the state, the Rajasthan Special Operations Group (SOG) on Tuesday arrested five suspected impersonators, each carrying a cash reward of ₹10,000, officials said.
The arrests were made during simultaneous raids at six locations across Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Kolkata, Jaipur, Kota and Jalore in connection with an ongoing probe into alleged irregularities in the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) Senior Teacher (Secondary Education) Second Grade Competitive Examination-2022.
Additional Director General of Police, SOG, Vishal Bansal said complaints were received that certain candidates had fraudulently cleared the examination by sending dummy candidates on their behalf and secured appointments as senior teachers.
Following a preliminary inquiry, the case was registered and a special investigation team (SIT) was constituted to probe the matter.
The ADG said three MBBS students and two government school teachers were arrested for allegedly appearing in the examination in place of original candidates in exchange for amounts ranging from ₹3 lakh to ₹5 lakh. Another MBBS student from Kolkata has been detained for questioning.
Officials said identifying dummy candidates based solely on photographs posed a major challenge. A special software tool was developed to match candidates’ images with the state’s one-time registration database, enabling investigators to confirm identities through technical analysis.
With the latest action, a total of 26 accused — including 12 original candidates, nine dummy candidates and five middlemen — have been arrested so far in the case, the SOG said.
Further investigation is underway to identify remaining accused and verify the educational qualifications and current postings of those arrested, officials added.
