Five people were arrested in Bikaner for allegedly attempting to cheat in the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET)-2021 exam held on Sunday. They were caught with Bluetooth devices fitted in slippers.
Ahead of the exam, Rajasthan faced shutdown of all internet services on Sunday owing to the examination.
Despite such stringent measures, some people did make an attempt to resort to fraudulent acts in the exam. In Bikaner, five people were arrested after being caught wearing specially designed slippers fitted with Bluetooth devices.
Seven others were also arrested from different places in connection with fraud in the REET exam.
Bikaner superintendent of Police, Priti Chandra said the five arrested people were wearing slippers in which the devices were fitted. Two of them, identified as Madan Lal and Trilokchand, are allegedly gang members who provided the slippers to candidates or their relatives while three were REET candidates.
They were caught at a bus stand under Gangashahar police station area before the exam. During checking, the slippers and other devices were recovered. The main accused who is the gang leader is absconding while two members of the gang were arrested,” she said.
The SP further said the slippers were provided to candidates for ₹6 lakh.
Chandra informed that based on the information of the gang members, police in other districts, including Sikar, Pratapgarh and Ajmer were alerted.
Nearly 16 lakh candidates appeared for the examination—which was held to recruit Level 1 (class 1-5) and Level 2 (classes 6-8) teachers — in 4,019 centres across the state on Sunday. The last REET was conducted in 2018.
Abhay Kumar, principal secretary, Home, had written to the state, divisional and district officials to take a call on suspending internet services to establish stringent law and order, and to prevent fraudulent activities and cheating during the exam. “About 16 lakh students will participate in REET 2021 and will travel from one district to another. In such a situation, there is a possibility of deteriorating law and order situation due to fake news, rumours of accidents, paper leak, etc,” he wrote. Thus, keeping in mind the Central government’s 2017 notification on “public safety” and “public emergency”, Kumar asked the Divisional Commissioners to take a call on suspending internet services.
Several local and small business were affected and were primarily kept shut throughout the state.
In Jaipur, the district administration had earlier held meetings with trade association representatives and requested them to keep their establishments shut on Sunday. “It was a voluntary decision following the administration’s request. Barring essential services such as shops selling food items, restaurants, juice shops, medical stores, etc. everything else remained shut,” said Jaipur Vyapar Mahasangh president Subhash Goyal, claiming about 80,000 to 90,000 shops remained shut in Jaipur. “Business worth around Rs 100 crore was affected in Jaipur today due to suspension of internet services,” he added.
As the internet suspension hit life across the state, BJP state president Satish Poonia attacked the Congress government, saying, “There is a stark difference between the words and deeds of the Congress party… Shutting down the internet on such a large scale caused inconvenience to the public. Even after suspending the internet, there were several irregularities. The government will have to come up with a strategy,” Poonia said.
Source: The Indian Express, Mint
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