Aadhaar fraud in police constable exam: Munna Bhai-style scam in Madhya Pradesh
The integrity of recruitment exams in Madhya Pradesh has once again come under serious question, as a fresh scandal has emerged in the 2023 MP Police Constable Recruitment Exam.In a case eerily reminiscent of Bollywood's Munna Bhai, multiple fake candidates, known as "solvers", appeared for the exam on behalf of real applicants, successfully cleared all stages and were on the verge of joining the force when the fraud came to light.advertisementAccording to an investigation by India Today, the malpractice is not isolated to a single district. It spans across multiple areas in the state, prompting a deeper probe into the entire recruitment process conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Employees Selection Board (MPESB).
Sources confirm that at least a dozen people have been arrested across three districts, including both the candidates who applied and the impostors who took the exams for them.It may be noted that the recruitment exam was held between August 12 and September 12, 2023 and as many as 7 lakh applicants appeared for 7,090 positions. The written test results were declared in March 2024, followed by final selections made in March 2025 after physical tests. It was during the joining phase that discrepancies in identity verification began to surface. In one such case, Ram Roop Gurjar from Morena arrived at the SP Office in Alirajpur to assume his post. However, the officials became suspicious when his Aadhaar card appeared to have been tampered with and his admit card photo did not match his current appearance. advertisementThe officials ran a fingerprint analysis which confirmed the person who appeared for the exam was not Gurjar, but someone else. Upon questioning, Gurjar confessed that a solver named Amarendra Singh from Bihar had taken the exam for him for Rs 1 lakh. The police have arrested both in the case. Soon more cases started coming to light in other districts as well. In Morena, candidates Radha Charan and Dinesh Singh had similarly manipulated their Aadhaar data, updating biometrics before and after the exam to facilitate identity swaps. In Sheopur district, a larger racket was uncovered with seven arrests, including three selected candidates, namely Sonu Rawat, Santosh Rawat and Aman Singh, and their solvers. Aadhaar agents who enabled biometric alterations were also taken into custody.Upon investigation, authorities discovered that the entire operation followed a disturbingly well-organised and methodical pattern. Solvers would first identify candidates willing to pay for a guaranteed pass. After which, aadhaar biometrics were manipulated through internal system access, swapping fingerprints and facial data. The solvers would then sit for the exams and physical tests. After the process, the candidates' original biometrics were restored to avoid detection during the joining phase. The fraud was exposed only when biometric mismatches occurred at the final verification stage.advertisementThe government has initiated a confidential investigation in the matter. This scandal draws uncomfortable parallels with the infamous Vyapam scam, in which proxy candidates were used in entrance and recruitment exams, leading to national outrage and a series of mysterious deaths.With inputs from Chandrabhan Bhadauria, Khemraj Dubey and Dushyant
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