12 in MP recruitment exam flagged for 9-second-per-question pace; FIR filed
The Madhya Pradesh police on Monday regered a First Information Report (FIR) against 12 candidates in the 2024 Excise Constable online recruitment exam after system alerts revealed they all completed their 100-question paper in just 15 minutes last year.Praneet Sijariya, MPESB’s principal system analyst, said the candidates answered all questions only in the final minutes of the exam. (PEXEL/Representative Image)An FIR has been regered against the candidates and an unknown person under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which pertains to cheating and dishonestly inducing a person to deliver a valuable security or a signed or sealed document.The 12 exam papers were red-flagged during an analysis of online exam data for successful candidates. A total of 1,10,032 candidates had appeared for the Excise Constable Recruitment Examination conducted between September 9 and September 21, 2025, to fill 243 posts.The Madhya Pradesh Employee Selection Board (MPESB) had conducted the exam. In the results declared on February 5, the board withheld the results for the 12 candidates.According to the FIR, the 12 candidates did almost nothing but scroll through their online exam papers for the first 30 minutes, before answering 100 questions in the last 15 minutes, averaging one answer every 9 seconds.Praneet Sijariya, MPESB’s principal system analyst, said the candidates answered all questions only in the final minutes of the exam.“CCTV footage and system data were examined, revealing that an unknown person had provided an answer sheet to the candidates through unfair means. Based on the preliminary report, a complaint was filed at MP Nagar police station and later transferred to Ratlam. The police have now begun an investigation,” he told HT.A senior police officer said the person who assed the candidates was believed to be the key link between them and the larger networkOfficials said this is the first time that data analysis has been used to detect irregularities in the examination.
