How A Love Story Exposed Key Maharashtra Exam Paper Leak

A failed love story exposed the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) Drug Inspector paper leak scam, with one of the accused alerting the police before being arrested.

According to the police, candidate Rituja Patil's father, Amrit Patil, had bought the question paper from Praveen Patil - a coaching institute operator from Nandurbar - for his daughter. Investigation showed an initial transaction of Rs 5 lakh between Praveen and some MPSC officials, while the total amount was estimated to be around Rs 12 lakh.

Rituja then shared the question paper with her now-former boyfriend, Gaurav Patil.

While Rituja was selected in the March 22 examination, Gaurav failed the test. This caused a fight between the couple, leading to a breakup.

Fearing that his girlfriend would move on after securing a government job, Gaurav filed a complaint about the paper leak with the MPSC via email. He later attempted to withdraw his complaint, but an investigation had already begun.

The investigation revealed that a new question paper was prepared before the exam by illegally removing questions from the question bank prepared by experts and secretly selling it.

A case was filed earlier this week against the accused under the Indian Penal Code, the Maharashtra Competitive Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

Subsequently, six people were arrested - Vishweshwar Dattatray Nakate, Assistant Room Officer (ASO), MPSC,  Abhijeet Ganpatrao Lendve, Under Secretary, MPSC, Gopal Bhattu Marathe, Assistant Room Officer (ASO), MPSC, Praveen Dilip Patil, Director, Kautilya Academy, Nandurbar (Chief Arbitrator), Amrit Namdev Patil, Father of candidate Rituja Patil, and Gaurav Patil - the whistleblower and Rituja's former boyfriend.

All the accused were produced before the court, where they have been remanded to police custody till September 2.

MPSC Cancels Drug Inspector Recruitment Process

The Maharashtra Public Service Commission has cancelled the entire recruitment process for Drug Inspector, Group-B posts under the Food and Drug Administration Department following the allegations of a question-paper leak.

The offline screening examination was conducted on March 22 at six divisional headquarters across Maharashtra. The results were declared on June 12, with 506 candidates qualifying for interviews. Of these, 488 candidates reportedly appeared for interviews conducted between July 1 and July 22.

Between July 22 and July 26, MPSC received complaints from candidates and public representatives alleging that the examination question paper or questions had been obtained by some candidates two days before the test, and circulated through social media and electronic platforms.

In view of the findings, the commission decided to cancel the complete recruitment process rather than proceed with the existing selection.

The MPSC, however, has clarified that a re-examination would be conducted, and that candidates who have already applied will not need to re-apply or pay any additional fees.