MUMBAI: The four men arrested in the MPSC drug inspector examination paper leak case allegedly damaged or dumped their mobile phones and laptops to destroy evidence, the Mumbai crime branch said, as investigators began efforts to recover the devices and trace the money allegedly paid for the leaked paper. Police said three candidates who allegedly received the paper went on to rank third, fourth and seventh in the examination.
One was allegedly run by MPSC under secretary Abhijit Lendave, who has already been arrested, while the other was allegedly operated by Kautaliya Academy director Pravin Patil. Sande ranked third and Kingar fourth in the examination. The second group was allegedly operated by Patil, who is accused of giving the leaked paper to Rutuja Patil of Nandurbar. She ranked seventh. Police alleged that MPSC official Vishweshwar Nakate stole questions from the confidential set, copied them onto his laptop and gave them to Lendave. Lendave allegedly passed the questions to middlemen in Navi Mumbai, while another MPSC official, Gopal Marathe of Nandurbar, allegedly gave the material to Patil. The crime branch is also probing the money trail.
The deal was for between ₹ 15 lakh and ₹ 20 lakh, according to police. Police said Rutuja had claimed in chats that ₹ 50 lakh was paid for the paper, although investigators believe the amount was lower. Police said the gap between the March 22 examination and the July 22 declaration of results gave the accused enough time to allegedly destroy the evidence.
Investigators said two groups were allegedly involved in the leak. Police said Lendave allegedly supplied the paper to Sajid Sande of Sangli and Vijay Kingar of Buldhana through middlemen Sandeep Kalate and Bhairavnath Kadam from Navi Mumbai. “The question paper was leaked to the recently arrested accused Sajid Sande and Vijay Kingar by Lendave,” a police officer said. Investigators said Nakate subsequently destroyed his laptop. Police said they have secured custody of Sande, Kingar, Kalate and Kadam till Saturday.
