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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a retired assistant professor, who was posted as the district coordinator of Jaipur, under the Rajasthan Teachers Eligibility Examination Prevention of Money Laundering Act (REET) 2021 exam paper leak incident. The suspect, Pradeep Parashar, was arrested by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Rajasthan Police in January 2022.
On July 10, Mr. Parashar was produced before a special PMLA court in Jaipur and sent to the Enforcement Directorate for three days of custody. The Enforcement Directorate initiated an investigation into the case based on an initial report and charge sheet filed by the Rajasthan police against Mr. Parashar and others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Also read | Rajasthan govt sacks state school board chairman over REET paper leak
In September 2021, Rajasthan held its largest exam for recruiting government school teachers, with more than 1.6 million candidates appearing. The leak of the exam paper caused an uproar in Rajasthan, following which the then Congress government cancelled the exam. The state government handed over the investigation to the SOG, which confirmed that the paper was leaked from the Shiksha Sankul building of the Education Department in Jaipur two days before the exam.
The SOG arrested 38 persons, including 14 candidates, and recovered Rs 1.16 crore paid to get the question papers. The state government also suspended three senior officials and 13 employees of the education department for their dubious role in failing to prevent cheating during REET.
Mr. Parashar appointed an assistant, Ramkripal Meena, to keep the question papers without any valid order and also allowed him to enter the strongroom of Shiksha Sankul without authorization. It is alleged that Meena, in collusion with Mr. Parashar, stole a question paper by opening the question paper envelope and sealing it again on the night of September 24, 2021.
Investigation revealed that Meena later allegedly handed over the stolen question paper to the main accused Udaram Bishnoi, who, after collecting money from the candidates, provided coaching to the candidates using the questions and answers from this question paper at seven places in the state.
In 2023, the Enforcement Directorate of India searched 32 residences of the accused, found evidence and digital records, and seized huge amounts of cash. The Enforcement Directorate of India had previously arrested Ramkripal Meena and filed a case with the PMLA Special Court. Since then, the court has accepted the case.
REET Level I and Level II exams are organized by the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education. The state government also sacked the board’s chairman DP Jaroli and secretary AK Sengwa in September 2021 after the question papers were leaked.
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