NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has detected and busted a departmental examination paper leak scam under the East Central Railway at Mughal Sarai in Uttar Pradesh during a search operation launched on the intervening night of March 3 and 4, officials said on Tuesday.
The officials further said that as part of the probe, the agency registered a case against a Senior Deputy Electrical Engineer (DEE) - operations and 8 other Railway officials and unknown candidates and others.
The CBI conducted checks at three spots on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday at Mughal Sarai, and a total of 17 candidates were found with photocopies of hand-written question papers, they added.
According to officials, the East Central Railway had scheduled a “Departmental Examination” on March 4, 2025, for the posts of Chief Loco Inspectors.
A senior CBI official said, “Investigation conducted so far revealed that accused Sr. DEE (Ops) was given the responsibility for setting and preparing the question paper for the said examination. He in his own hand-writing had written the questions in English and allegedly gave it to one Loco Pilot, who in turn translated it into Hindi and further gave it to an OS (Trg.). The said OS (Trg.) allegedly in turn gave it to the candidates through few other Railway employees.”
Following the busting of the paper leak, the CBI arrested accused Sr. DEE (Ops) and other Railway employees on allegations of indulging in collection of money, he said.
“As many as 17 departmental candidates, who are presently working as Loco Pilots allegedly paid money for the question paper and were caught red-handed with the copies of the question papers during the intervening night of March 3 and 4, 2025, have been arrested. Overall, 26 Railway officials have been arrested in this case so far,” the official said.
Searches were conducted at 8 locations which resulted in recovery of Rs. 1.17 crore in cash, he said, adding that these amounts were reportedly collected from the candidates for leaking the question papers.
“The hand-written question papers along with their photocopies were seized and these question papers have been tallied with the original/actual question paper and were found to have matched,” the official said, while adding that investigation in the case continued.