In a joint operation, Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force and CBI on Wednesday arrested from Kanpur one of the prime accused in the Vyapam scam Ramesh Shivhare, who had been absconding for the last three years.
"We have arrested Shivhare this morning. He is wanted by CBI in several cases in the Vyapam scam," Uttar Pradesh DGP Javeed Ahmed said.
CBI sources said here that Shivhare is wanted in five cases probed by it which are related to alleged irregularities in the conduct of Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board also known as Vyapam.
They said Shivhare was absconding for the last three years and carried a reward of `10,000.
A native of Uttar Pradesh, Shivhare's wife was a local body member in Mahoba. They said Shivhare was one of the kingpins of the scam and was nabbed in a joint operation by UPSTF and CBI from Avas Vikas colony in Kalyanpur area of Kanpur.
He will be produced before a competent court after which he will be taken to Bhopal, they said.
Shivhare allegedly acted as a middleman and arranged for impostors and dummy candidates to appear in the examination carried out by Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board for a certain amount.
A resident of Uttar Pradesh, Shivhare has been evading questioning by authorities probing the case. His application for anticipatory bail was also turned down by the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2014.
"There is material to indicate the involvement of applicant in the commission of the crime, for which reason, the Investigating Officer has been insisting for attendance of the applicant for quite some time but in vain," a bench of Chief Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice Alok Aradhe had said.
During quizzing, Shivhare revealed that he completed his B.Tech from HBTI in Kanpur in 2005 and soon started Paradise Coaching in Kakadeo area of Kanpur. later he came in contact with several aspirants of Engineering and Medical courses. He also came in contact with Santosh Gupta of Jabalpur, who asked him to arrange some imposters to clear the entrance test for affluent aspirants in Vyapam.
Shivhare developed contact with several officials and managed to get numeorus students to various courses with active help from them.
Unravelling his modus operandi, Shivhare said that two types of scams were committed in Vyapam. He said that in one case while an imposter (dummy) candidate takes the exam in place of the genuine candidate, in the other, 'solvers' were provided to help the candidate to solve the paper by cheating.
The second system was termed as `Engine-Bogey' by Vyapam officials. In this formula, officials helped in getting roll numbers so that the solvers and candidates could be seated in an exam hall side by side.
During his fugitive days, Shivhare came in contact with gangs active in Agra, Ghaziabad, and Noida whose networks are spread over three dozen districts included Kanpur, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda, lucknow, Allahabad, Agra etc.
Shivhare admitted that such gangs were minting big money for arranging solvers or dummy candidates to help candidates in clearing Banking, Railways recruitment and Engineering/Medical entrance test.