A medical practitioner was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (UPSTF) for masterminding the UP Teacher Eligibility Test (UPTET-2021) paper leak for large bribes.
Santosh Chaurasia, the accused doctor, was apprehended at Mawaiya Metro station in Alambagh, Lucknow, on Wednesday evening.
Chaurasia has eight cases lodged against him in Gwalior, Indore, and Jabalpur for his role in the Vyapam scam that rocked Madhya Pradesh less than a decade ago.
Chaurasia's name turned up as an accused days after the UPTET paper leak, and an FIR was filed against him in Kaushambhi district, which acted as a scam gateway to eastern Uttar Pradesh.
According to sources, he was in contact with tainted exam controller Sanjay Kumar Upadhyay, who was stationed in Prayagraj.
Years ago, in a Madhya Pradesh prison where Chaurasia shared a cell with another Vyapam suspect, Vikas Dixit, the design for manipulating the UPTET exam was hammered out.
Additional Director General of Police, STF, Amitabh Yash, told reporters that "it was Dixit, who put him through to the scamster duo of Rahul Mishra and Anurag Sharma in February 2021, and they met in Noida. Rahul was adept at leaking question papers of government jobs and had links with printers".
After securing an MBBS degree from premier Delhi medical college, Chaurasia joined the solvers' syndicate and made quick money by deputing imposters and rigging OMR sheets of Madhya Pradesh Pre-Medical Test (PMT) in 2013-2014.
He was jailed after the scam-riddled Vyapam board went bust.
"During interrogation on Wednesday, Chaurasia disclosed he visited Lucknow in the last week of October and handed over Rs 3 lakhs to Rahul Mishra, who was confident of accessing UPTET question papers from the printing press.
"Then the doctor met another conduit, Roshan Patel, in Prayagraj, who promised to deliver the UPTET paper on WhatsApp for circulation among exam aspirants in east Uttar Pradesh," said the police officer.
On November 28, UPTET was cancelled after a question paper was leaked on social media, triggering arrests of 39 persons.
At least 20 lakh students were scheduled to take the examination at 2,736 centres in two shifts.
