BHOPAL: Once infamous for being the land of dreaded inter-state dacoits, the Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh has emerged as an inseparable part of all major examination frauds busted in the state in recent years.
The latest alleged fraud was detected in the MP Excise Constable Recruitment Test 2024, which was conducted by the MP state employee selection board (ESB).
Before the ESB (formerly Vyapam) released the results of the online exam on February 5, 2026 (exam was held last year), the data of candidates who had obtained abnormally high marks was analysed. The analysis led the Board to 12 candidates who scored very high marks in the exam, but had scored comparatively very low in the MP State Police Recruitment Test prior to it.
Based on the probe and consequent report by the ESB, a criminal case was lodged against the 12 candidates (nine of whom are from Gwalior-Chambal region’s Bhind and Morena district, two from Haryana and one from Agra-UP) by the ESB’s principal system analyst Pranit Sijaria at Bhopal’s MP Nagar Police Station. The case has been transferred now to Ratlam district police for investigation, as the alleged irregularities all happened at an exam centre there.
The board’s probe based on CCTV footage of the computer labs at the centre in Ratlam district, where exams were held in September 2025, revealed that the 12 candidates appeared to have received help, possibly from one common person in different labs on different dates at the centre.
The ESB’s internal investigation revealed that the computer monitors of all 12 candidates were replaced just a few minutes before they entered different computer labs at the examination centre between September 9 and September 15, 2025.
The analysis revealed that many of the 12 candidates rapidly scrolled through the entire question paper within the first 10-15 minutes only (visiting all sections without answering them). Later, after a period of inactivity, the same candidates came out with extraordinary spurt in correct answers towards the exam’s final segment – a phenomenon which has been marked by the ESB’s time-based analysis system as “High Strike Rate” anomalies.
Though the maximum time limit of the exam was two hours, some of these candidates reportedly solved 100 questions within a short span of 15 to 20 minutes, which emerged as a highly abnormal pattern. As they remained seated idle for the rest of the examination period, the phenomenon, particularly the unusual speed for replying answers correctly, raised suspicion.
The analysis of the results of the 12 candidates and CCTV footage from different computer labs of the exam centre in Ratlam clearly suggest that it cannot be the result of meticulous guessing.
The timing patterns, answer sequencing and nearly common behaviour by all those candidates, raises the strong possibility of some technical compromise/manipulation, which cannot have happened without the well-coordinated assistance of a person suspected to be an insider.
The ESB’s analysis and subsequent report to the police in Bhopal points towards the possibility of screen manipulation, external answer relay or even insider facilitation behind the alleged fraud/irregularities in the case of the 12 candidates.
Of the 12 (whose candidature stands cancelled), nine hailed from Bhind and Morena districts of MP’s Gwalior-Chambal region, two from Haryana and one from Agra.
Based on the ESB’s analysis report and the Board’s principal system analyst’s complaint, a case of cheating was registered at Bhopal’s MP Nagar Police Station recently and the case has been transferred to Ratlam district for further investigation.
The ESB had conducted this examination between September 9 and September 21, 2025, in 11 cities, including Bhopal, Indore and Ratlam. Admit cards were issued to 2,40,010 candidates for recruitment, out of which 1,10,032 candidates appeared for the examination. The result was declared on February 5.
This latest alleged recruitment examination fraud, with nine of the accused being from one region of MP, has revived memories of candidates from the same region having been a key part of previous exam frauds.
Dr Jagdish Sagar, the kingpin of an inter-state racket involved in the multi-layered Vyapam scam in 2013, hailed from Bhind district of Gwalior-Chambal region.
In 2023, when the MP’s Patwari recruitment exams was also marred by allegations of fraud, the alleged beneficiary candidates had taken the test mostly at one examination centre in Gwalior-Chambal region.
Then came the MP State Police Constable Recruitment major fraud, where dozens of candidates managed to clear the written test held in 2023 across MP, with the help of solvers from UP and Bihar, arranged by a multi-layered Aadhar ID manipulation racket. The beneficiaries as well as key players of the racket were again based in Gwalior-Chambal region.