The Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police, on Wednesday, arrested Ravi Atri, the main mastermind of the UP police recruitment examination.

Earlier, three other masterminds behind the Uttar Pradesh police constables recruitment examination question paper leak were arrested.

Atri, the main conspirator, was hiding as an employee of TCI Express Transport Company of Ahmedabad. He is a resident of Gautam Buddha Nagar and is currently living in Delhi.

According to the police, during investigation, it was found that the question paper was leaked when it was being transported to a strong room from a printing press and it was stored at a warehouse in Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

In the beginning of this month, another mastermind, Rajeev Nayan Mishra, was arrested by Noida STF. He was earlier also involved in similar cases, according to STF officials.

Over 48 lakh aspirants had appeared for the UP Police Constables Recruitment Exam this year, including almost 16 lakh women candidates. The exam was held on February 17 and 18 at 2,385 centres in four shifts across all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Through the recruitment drive, the UP govt aimed to fill 60,244 positions in the state police force.

The UP police had earlier arrested or detained 244 people from across the state on February 18 for allegedly plotting to adopt unfair means in the police constables recruitment exam. Later in March, the UP STF had arrested seven more people from Meerut and Delhi for their alleged involvement in the police recruitment exam paper leak case.

As per officials, the accused were allegedly members of a gang involved in the question paper leak case. Deepak, Bittu, Praveen, Rohit, Naveen and Sahil, all residents of Meerut, were arrested from a house under Kanker Kheda police station. A Gautam Buddha Nagar resident, Pramod Pathak, was also arrested.

While announcing the cancellation of the exam, the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government had given instructions to conduct a re-examination within six months.

“There can be no compromise with the sanctity of examinations. Those who play with the hard work of the youth will not be spared under any circumstances. Strictest action is certain to be taken against such unruly elements,” Chief Minister Adityanath had said in a post on X.

The exams were cancelled after several aspirants staged protests against the leaking of question papers. Hundreds of candidates who had appeared for the exam demanded a re-examination. They said the sanctity of the examination was compromised after a question paper went viral on social media hours before the paper started.