Twenty men and women were arrested on Sunday for allegedly impersonating candidates appearing for the constable recruitment examination of Calcutta police.
Police said the accused, who have been booked for cheating and impersonation, were arrested when their biometrics did not match with the database of candidates.
When questioned, they reportedly admitted that they had been hired by genuine candidates to write the test.
Ten of the accused were arrested in the Calcutta police area and the other 10 in the area under the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate.
“Six of the alleged dummy candidates were arrested at an examination centre in Ballygunge and two at a centre in New Market. One each was rounded up from venues in Gariahat and Bhowanipore,” an officer said.
Seven of the remaining accused were arrested in the Barrackpore police station area and three from the Titagarh police station area.
“They were caught when their biometrics did not match with the database of the candidates,” said a police officer at Lalbazar.
The state police recruitment board held the written examination for recruitment of constables for the Calcutta police at centres across the state.
An officer of New Market police station said the two women who were caught on the basis of suspicion later admitted that they had come to write the test on behalf of candidates from Malda.
The accused women are from Koderma district in Jharkhand, the police said.
“Many of the accused are from outside Bengal. They were hired by genuine candidates. We are trying to find out whether the accused are part of a larger racket,” said the officer at Lalbazar.
Of the 10 alleged dummy candidates arrested in the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate area, three are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and the rest from Nadia district and Titagarh.
In May last year, as many as 48 persons had been arrested in and around Calcutta on the charge of writing a test for recruitment of constables for Calcutta police on behalf of actual candidates.
The 20 accused who were arrested on Sunday have been charged under IPC section related to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
The police said the candidates who had hired the accused would also be named as accused as the alleged offense was carried out in connivance with them.
