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Updated: Aug 12, 2019 19:53 IST

The Himachal Pradesh government on Monday cancelled the written examination for recruitment of constable after 13 people, including seven youth from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, were caught impersonating as candidates during the exam on Sunday.

Over 38,000 candidates appeared in the examination conducted across total 19 centres simultaneously in all the 12 districts for a total 1,063 posts of constables and other categories. A new date will be announced soon, a police spokesperson said.

The examination was cancelled following arrest of seven youth from an examination centre at Paraur near Palampur in Kangra district after they were found impersonating as candidates.

Most of them were proxy examination solvers who were allegedly appearing on behalf of real candidates to answer the papers while one of them was using smart chip and micro-earphones for cheating in the exam. Seven more were arrested during raids conducted by the police. Three of the accused are from Himachal.

The police have so far revealed the identity of seven accused who are under arrest—Anurag of Uddan village in Kalanour tehsil of Rohtak, Haryana; Mandeep of Shanti Nagar from Thanesar of Kurukshetra; Kuldeep of Chausala village, Kalayat, Haryana; Subhash from Joginder Nagar in Jind, Haryana; Raghubir Singh and Prashant of Nagla Jhandu, Leharpur, Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh; and Rustam Ali of Nagrotu village, Jawali, Kangra.

“The state government has decided to cancel the exam. Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur has directed to conduct the written test afresh at the earliest. No further fee will be charged from the candidates for the fresh written test,” the spokesperson said.

Asserting that question paper was not leaked prior to the test, he said the kingpin of the entire conspiracy and network, identified as Vikram of Darkati area of Jawali, Kangra, is at large.

An amount of Rs 6 lakh was recovered from his house during the raid. It is suspected that accused had charged a fat sum from aspirants in lieu of placing a proxy for them.

“Four candidates who were impersonated have also been detained and being interrogated,” he said, adding that specially fabricated vests fitted with wires, mobile and earphones were also recovered.

A car belonging to an accused from Haryana has also been impounded.

“Contact is being established with the concerned police authorities in Haryana, UP and Rajasthan to ascertain the credentials and criminal record of the accused,” the spokesperson said.

Police are suspecting involvement of more people in the case and raids are being conducted at their possible hideouts.

“The absconding accused will be nabbed soon and it would be ensured that the examination is conducted in transparent manner at the earliest,” said the spokesperson.

Meanwhile, the state police have formed and Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Palampur deputy superintendent of police (DSP) to investigate the case. Kangra superintendent of police (SP) Vimukt Ranjan is personally supervising the probe.

A case has been registered at Bhawarna police station under Section 419 and 420 of Indian Penal Code. Meanwhile , the accused were produced in a local court on Monday which sent them to police remand till August 16.

How cops busted the racket

During the examination, the impersonators were appearing as proxy by producing fake admit cards. Some of them had even managed to enter the exam hall. One of them fumbled when an invigilator asked him about his address. He was immediately detained and revealed the identity of others.