Kolkata: Just days ahead of the national medical entrance re-test scheduled on June 21, the cyber crime branch of Kolkata Police has busted an organized syndicate allegedly involved in the illegal circulation and sale of fake question papers for the upcoming Re-NEET UG 2026 examination on June 21, claiming that question papers have been “leaked” yet again.
Following a swift, tech-driven operation conducted on June 13, the sleuths arrested a 39-year-old man from the Garia area, uncovering a sophisticated digital trail that points to a larger pan-state criminal conspiracy operating through encrypted social media networks. The CBI, which is investigating the NEET UG paper leak, has been informed about the development, said sources.
Acting on a precise intelligence tip-off regarding an active racket targeting desperate medical aspirants in Kolkata and its adjoining districts, a team from the organized cyber crime section of the detective department launched a technical surveillance operation. Officers zeroed in on a specific Telegram account linked to a local mobile number, which was being aggressively used to advertise the fake sale of the examination materials for massive financial payouts.
Utilizing advanced cyber forensics and location tracking, a police team raided a residence on Raja Subodh Chandra Mallick Road in Garia, under Netaji Nagar PS, where they intercepted the prime suspect, identified as Rajesh Halder, a resident of Mathurapur in the South 24 Parganas district. Although Halder had deliberately uninstalled the Telegram application from his handset to erase any immediate digital evidence, a forensic inspection of his device revealed a critical breakthrough in the form of a recent Telegram verification OTP code residing in his linked Gmail inbox.
Under intense interrogation at Lalbazar, Halder cracked and confessed to his involvement, revealing that a local handler named Raja had approached him earlier in March to set up the encrypted infrastructure. Raja had allegedly lured Halder with promises of lucrative monetary commissions in exchange for creating the account, explicitly stating it would be used to run a highly profitable paper leak scam.
Fearing that the syndicate might remotely wipe cloud data or destroy critical digital evidence, the police seized the handset and formally arrested Halder. A comprehensive criminal case has been registered at the Cyber Police Station under multiple stringent sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000, including identity theft and cheating by personation, alongside several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, relating to criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery. A massive manhunt is currently underway across South 24 Parganas to track down Raja and unearth the other masterminds operating the racket.
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