The Uttarakhand High Court has rejected the bail application of assistant professor Suman Chauhan in the Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UKSSSC) graduate-level exam cheating case. The court held that the material collected by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) prima facie pointed to her active role as an "outside solver" in an alleged live cheating arrangement during the Graduate Level Examination conducted on September 21, 2025.
Court's Observations
Justice Aashish Naithani stated that the allegations were not casual or peripheral but involved interference with the integrity of a public recruitment examination. The High Court remarked, "The offence affects the fairness of the entire selection process and undermines public confidence in competitive recruitment."
Prosecution's Case
According to the prosecution case recorded in the order, Chauhan received question paper images via WhatsApp while the exam was in progress from candidate Mohd Khalid and sent back solved answers. The case was re-registered by the CBI on October 27, 2025, after being initially lodged at Raipur police station and later investigated by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) before being transferred to the central agency. Chauhan has been in judicial custody since November 28, 2025, and faces charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Uttarakhand Competitive Examination Act, 2023.
Digital Evidence
The court order recorded the CBI's allegation that Khalid, who was allegedly inside the examination centre, got photographs of portions of the question booklet sent through his sister Sabia to Chauhan. Chauhan then solved the questions and returned the answers while the examination was still underway. The court also noted the CBI's reliance on a WhatsApp exchange from the morning of September 21, 2025, in which Khalid allegedly asked Chauhan to remain available around 11:30 am to solve multiple-choice questions related to his sister's exam, and she responded affirmatively.
According to the order, three images containing 12 questions were allegedly sent to Chauhan at about 11:35 am, and answers were returned by about 11:45 am. The CBI also cited IPDR material showing Khalid's WhatsApp-linked internet activity from inside the exam centre between 11:32:55 am and 11:47:18 am, along with a 32-second voice call made by Chauhan to Sabia at about 11:50 am.
Seizures and Evidence Tampering
The court took note of seizures made during the investigation, including mobile phones, a pen drive, and a notebook whose last page allegedly carried handwritten answers to the 12 questions. It further recorded the CBI's allegation that question images and answer images were deleted and handwritten answers were defaced, suggesting an attempt to destroy evidence.
Defence Rejected
Rejecting the defence claim of ignorance, the High Court said whether Chauhan knew the full nature of the arrangement would be tested at trial. However, at the bail stage, "the digital chronology, the visible features of the images, and the alleged post-occurrence deletion of material create a prima facie chain" that could not readily be explained as innocent conduct. The court added that factors such as her being a woman, having no criminal antecedents, and the filing of the chargesheet were outweighed by the seriousness of the accusation and the electronic material on record.
