The Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police conducted raids in several districts and arrested 27 people after a video of paper leak in the Lekhpal recruitment exam went viral on social media on Sunday morning.

"Paper solvers and those accused of taking money from candidates for carrying out malpractices have been arrested after raids in Prayagraj, Kanpur Nagar, Moradabad, Varanasi and Gonda districts," an official communique of the STF disclosed here on Sunday afternoon.

Lekhpal is an administrative post and the selected candidates would report to revenue officers in rural areas. The exam was held between 10 am and 12 pm on Sunday at 501 examination centres in Ayodhya, Aligarh, Agra, Bareilly, Meerut, Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Moradabad, Jhansi, Kanpur Nagar, Lucknow and Varanasi districts.

The STF statement said that apart from solvers, some accused helped candidates in writing the paper with the help of bluetooth devices.

"Today, on 31st July, UP lekhpal recruitment tests were conducted in 12 districts and the STF received information that some gangs were using solvers to disrupt the fair conduct of the exams. Some gangs also helped candidates cheat using bluetooth devices," an official of the STF said, adding that the STF conducted a series of raids and so far it had arrested 27 persons in this connection.

The Varanasi unit of STF cracked down on the solver gang of competitive examinations on Sunday and arrested four. The STF also recovered electronic devices used to solve the questions.

The main examinations for the recruitment of lekhpal, conducted by Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UPSSSC), were at various centres in Varanasi.

The Varanasi unit of STF got information about a gang using solvers for solving the questions in the main lekhpal recruitment examination. The STF sleuths raided three examination centres and arrested a candidate, Pushpendra of Chunar in Mirzapur from Udai Pratap Inter College, solver Rajnarayan Yadav of Rasra in Ballia from Arya Mahila PG College, candidate Krishna Yadav of Bansdih in Ballia from Arya Mahila PG College and candidate Dilip Gupta of Raniyan in Pratapgarh from Rampyari Rastogi Inter College.

During the interrogation, the arrested candidates and solver disclosed that Vijay Kant Patel of Prayagraj was the kingpin of the solver gang. The gang had made deals of Rs 10 lakh with each candidate to help them clear the exam. The gang had fixed electronic devices in the ears and hands of the candidates and used code numbers to solve the questions.

The STF sleuths also recovered electronic devices from the possessions of candidates such as bluetooth, earbuds.  

In Prayagraj, the STF arrested three persons, including the kingpin of the solver gang. The gang leader, Vijay Kant Patel and his associates, Dinesh Kumar Yadav and Sonu Kumar were arrested near a gas godown in Soraon. All three of them were going in a Brezza when the STF team nabbed them. Vijay Kumar is a resident of Atanpur village of Bahria in Prayagraj, Dinesh Kumar of Rajepur village and Sonu Kumar of Sarai Aziz village. The Prayagraj STF however denied any paper leak.