Gujarat: Railway Job Aspirant Peels Off Thumb Skin, Pastes On Friend's Hand In Bid To Pass Exam

Both the candidate and his friend, who hail from Munger district in Bihar, have been arrested. 

Railways conducted a recruitment test for 'D' group vacancies in Laxmipura earlier this week ( Image Source :PTI )

A Railways job aspirant in Gujarat's Vadodara allegedly peeled off his thumb skin and pasted it on his friend's thumb so that the latter could appear for a recruitment exam in his place by hoodwinking the biometric verification, PTI reported. However, the attempt to trick the biometric machine fell flat after the skin fell off from the thumb of the friend of the candidate.

Additional Commissioner of Police SM Varotariya said both the candidate and his friend, identified as Manish Kumar and Rajyaguru Gupta respectively, have been arrested. 

"They are both natives of Munger district in Bihar. Both are in their mid-20s and have cleared Class 12 exam," PTI quoted Varotariya as saying.

The incident happened when Railways conducted a recruitment test for 'D' group vacancies in Laxmipura area of Vadodara on August 22. More than 600 candidates appeared for the exam.

"To prevent cheating (through impersonation), all the candidates were required to give their thumb impression which was matched with their Aadhaar data through a biometric device," the ACP said.

When the 'proxy' candidate gave his thumb impression, the biometric verification failed despite repeated attempts.

The suspicion of the exam supervisor grew when he noticed that the candidate was trying to hide his left hand by putting it in the pocket of his pants.

"When the supervisor sprayed sanitiser on his left thumb, the skin pasted on it came off," PTI quoted the ACP as saying.

Upon sustained questioning, the exam authorities found out that the real name of the 'proxy' was Rajyaguru Gupta and informed the police. 

A case was registered under Indian Penal Code sections 465 (forgery), 419 (cheating by impersonation) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) against Gupta and Kumar.

Gupta told police that as he was good in studies, Kumar came up with the idea of sending him to take the exma in his place.

"A day before the test, Kumar put his left thumb on a hot cooking pan which created a blister. He then removed the skin using a blade and pasted it on Gupta's left thumb as he knew that there would be biometric verification before the test," the police officer said.

(With PTI inputs)