The Hindu : New Delhi News : Tentacles are spread far and wide

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 15, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Tentacles are spread far and wide

By Devesh K. Pandey

NEW DELHI, APRIL 14. With the leads in the pre-medical test paper leak case taking it to States other than the Capital, the Crime Branch of the Delhi police is faced with several challenges in speeding up the probe and trying to trace the big fishes behind this nexus.

While the Crime Branch has so far identified five people involved in the case, of whom only two have been arrested, it is believed that they merely worked as ground operatives for the gang being run by those who had easy access to the examination papers being prepared for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) competitive examinations.

Since two of the accused in the case, Vikas Verma and Ranjit Verma, were students of Nagpur Medical College, the police suspect that they could have been handed over the handwritten question papers by someone operating from there. During questioning, Ranjit Verma's father disclosed that he had come to the Capital from Nagpur a day before the examination was to be conducted, which creates a strong suspicion that he already had procured the question papers before coming to Delhi.

It was Ranjit who was apparently in direct touch with those who passed on the copies of the test papers. The police still do not know how many people like Ranjit were operating in other parts of the country at the instance of the brain behind this nexus, which might turn out to be just as big as the one allegedly being run by Ranjit Singh Don.

The Crime Branch sent a team to Nagpur to conduct raids in the hostel rooms of Ranjit and Vikas two days after the racket was smashed, which was a late reaction, according to some police officers. By the time Vikas and his accomplice, Rakesh, were arrested, the other gang members had in all probability come to know about it. They would have taken all precautionary measures to destroy other evidences.

The probe has also led the police to Noida in Uttar Pradesh where the third identified accused, Banni Gautam, worked as a lab assistant with one Noida Medical Centre. While the Crime Branch needs to probe his role, it would also have to find out how and by whom he was roped in. He, Ranjit and his brother, Satinder, are yet to be arrested.

Another aspect of the case has its root in Rajasthan, specifically in Ganganagar. Those behind the nexus had got advertisements published in newspapers assuring candidates easy admissions into prestigious educational institutions.

As a group of people is taking care of the "business'' across Rajasthan, the Crime Branch will have to put in more effort to trace these people. Meanwhile, operations in the Capital, Jharkhand and Bihar would also demand similar kind of attention.

Apart from these exercises, the most important job at hand for the Crime Branch is to find the person who leaked the papers either from the CBSE examination department or from the press where the papers were printed.

Since the modus operandi of this racket is similar to that one being run by Ranjit Don, the police are going through details of that case as well to gather more clues.

The findings in the latest case and that of Ranjit Don would be compared and analysed to zero in on those working behind the scenes.

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