Bhopal: In a scandal that came to light on 1 June, solvers from Madhya Pradesh tampered with Aadhaar biometrics to pose as candidates during the 2023 police constable examination; arrests were made in Alirajpur, Morena, and Sheopur.
The MP police constable recruitment examination 2023 has been left in a lurch by a scam of epic proportions, reminiscent of a scene straight out of Bollywood’s Munna Bhai MBBS. By manipulating the Aadhaar biometrics system and swapping out fingerprints and photos to evade verification, cheaters, known as “solvers,” stole real candidates’ exams.
The fraud came to light during the police background checks, which revealed inconsistencies in the Aadhaar cards, the admissions cards, and the fingerprints of candidates. In Alirajpur, authorities apprehended Ram Roop Gurjar from Morena, who had come with the intention of becoming a constable. The scam had come to light after a fingerprint analysis of the OMR sheet belonging to Jagdish Sharma, a resident of Achnera, highlighting that he was not the person who appeared for his exam but a solver who was paid ₹1 lakh by Bihar resident Amarendra Singh.
The two were part of a collection and delivery team. Investigations conducted since 2013 revealed that the scheme operated like a business. Solvers, however, would find candidates who were open to paying to manipulate Aadhaar data by unauthorised access, updating the biometrics before the exam and then reverting these biometrics post the exam. The cases originated from various districts, leading to the filing of 19 FIRs in Alirajpur, Morena, Sheopur, and Gwalior.
“This is a major scandal of the examination system.” We’re doing a statewide investigation to track down all the people involved.” CCTV monitoring and document investigations are currently underway to identify additional individuals involved in the scam.
In Gwalior, five candidates were arrested because their photos and handwriting did not match the official records, and evidence showed that their photos had been updated in the Aadhaar profiles in July 2023 to facilitate the fraud.
The scam is reminiscent of the Vyapam scandal, and some former key players in that scam were questioned in the Railway scam which rings the bell over recruitment systems. And articles on X are representative of public outcry demanding more stringent monitoring.
As the Madhya Pradesh police expand their probe, the Aadhaar scam bursts open the cracks in biometric security and underlines the urgent need for a serious overhaul to protect future tests and the public trust.
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