The Raipur police were now investigating if the accused were a part of a larger module carrying out similar malpractices across the country. Credit: X/@CPRaipurPolice
The Raipur police on Sunday (February 15, 2026) arrested six men from Haryana for allegedly cheating in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) entrance examination using sophisticated devices.
Among the six held, three are engineering graduates taking up the examination while three others are their accomplices, who were stationed outside at the parking lot of the examination centre, the ION Digital Zone in the Sarona area, a police officer said.
The GATE examination, with multiple choice questions, is the ticket for engineering graduates to secure a position in premier institutions for higher studies, including the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science. It was held across the country on Sunday in two shifts, the first from 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., and the second from 2.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.
The accused, who were arrested during the morning shift, have been identified as Darshan Sehrawag (26) and Sumit Sehrawag (30) from Jhajjar, Laxminarayan Verma (36), Amar Chandra (32) and Bunty Kumar (38) from Fatehabad, and Narendra Kumar (29) from Hisar.
The plan involved the candidates, Mr. Verma, Mr. Chandra, and Mr. Kumar reading out the questions from the inside the examination hall through a Bluetooth device, while an accomplice each stationed outside searched the answers on Google and transmitted them back to the candidate via the device, the officer said.
The police had received credible information that certain individuals had planned to facilitate cheating by providing unfair assistance to candidates through electronic devices, and a police team had been constituted to crack down on the errant candidates.
“The police team maintained discreet surveillance around the examination centre. While monitoring suspicious activities near the examination centre (ION Digital Zone, Sarona), the team noticed a few individuals in suspicious circumstances carrying electronic devices. Upon interrogation and search, devices used for facilitating cheating were recovered, after which all suspects were detained for questioning,” he said.
The device, investigators said, was a small two-part gadget, a tiny earpiece concealed inside the ear, and a rectangular microphone tucked inside one of the socks, sneaked into the examination hall and then hidden inside the shirt. The microphone held a SIM card used for teleconnection.
Upon interrogation, the accused candidates purportedly told the police that they had each paid ₹2 lakh to certain individuals in their native State, who teamed them up with the accomplices, and all of them travelled together to Raipur where the exam centre had been allocated, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar Police Station in-charge Ravindra Kumar Yadav said.
The police were now investigating if the accused were a part of a larger module carrying out similar malpractices across the country, Mr. Yadav said.
Published – February 15, 2026 09:30 pm IST
