Seven people, including five government employees, have been arrested over the question-paper leak in the recruitment examination for assistant youth development officers under the Department of Youth Development.
The arrestees were found with examination admit cards, bank cheques, stamps, certificates, national identity cards and mobile phones, Lieutenant Colonel Faizul Arefin, commander of Special Response Battalion (SRB)-3, said at a press briefing at the SRB media centre in Dhaka's Karwan Bazar today (16 October).
"The arrests followed three days of continuous operations in different parts of Dhaka and its surrounding areas. Preliminary investigations suggest that members of the network had distinct roles in collecting question papers, preparing answers and distributing them to candidates," the SRB official said.
The arrestees were identified as Md Rubel Islam, 33, a data entry operator at the Department of Environment; Mofizul Islam, 23, and Hasinur Rahman Sujon, 32, both job seekers; SM Imdadul Islam, 35, a computer operator at the National Board of Revenue (NBR); Asadul Islam, 33, an office assistant at the Ministry of Defence; Noor Mohammad, 30, an office assistant at the NBR; and Jahangir, 38, an NBR computer operator.
According to Arefin, candidates were charged Tk8 lakh to Tk10 lakh each for leaked questions.
However, the original source of the question paper has yet to be identified.
The arrestees claimed to have obtained the questions through Facebook but failed to provide satisfactory information about their source. Investigators are working to identify the person who first supplied the questions and others involved in the leak.
'Question paper photographed before dawn, answers prepared by morning'
According to the SRB, an examination of the arrestees' mobile phone chat histories revealed details of how the question paper was collected and circulated.
The network members used fake identities on WhatsApp to carry out their activities, preliminary findings suggest.
Investigators found that a person named Noor Mohammad received a blurry photograph of the question paper from a source at around 4:43am. At 6:15am, another person named Jahangir sent him a clearer photograph of the paper.
Noor then prepared answers to the questions and sent them to Jahangir and SM Imdadul Islam, according to the preliminary investigation. Other members of the network subsequently helped distribute the question paper and answers to candidates.
Investigators believe the network had a division of responsibilities, with some members collecting question papers, others preparing answers, and others recruiting candidates and distributing the material.
Lieutenant Colonel Arefin said identifying the person who initially supplied the question paper to Noor was a key part of the investigation. Noor could not provide a satisfactory explanation when questioned about the source, he added.
'Job seeker joined network after losing Tk17 lakh'
The SRB said Rubel Islam's name emerged during the preliminary investigation, and investigators subsequently identified other members of the network by tracking him.
Rubel, Mofizul and Sujon were arrested in the Motijheel area on 14 October.
Mofizul, a job seeker, had paid Tk17 lakh to a member of the network and was defrauded. He later joined the group in an attempt to earn money, according to the SRB's preliminary findings.
Based on information obtained from the three arrestees and an examination of their mobile phone chats, investigators arrested Imdadul in Uttarkhan and Asadul in Mirpur-10, with assistance from SRB-4.
SRB-4 arrested Noor in Savar on 15 October after reviewing the phone conversations and chats of the other arrestees. Jahangir was subsequently arrested in Mohammadpur on 16 October based on information and evidence obtained from Noor.
Admit cards, stamps and bank cheques seized
The SRB said it seized 116 Tk100 revenue stamps, four Tk50 stamps, a set of question papers, 19 pages of admit cards for various examinations, 10 certificates, 48 pages of bank cheques from different banks and one bank cheque.
Investigators also recovered 15 additional certificates of different categories, six national identity cards, eight mobile phones and Tk4,000 in cash, the force said.
The recruitment examination for 242 assistant youth development officer posts was scheduled for 10 October, with 3,19,000 job seekers applying. The test was supposed to begin at 11am, but the authorities postponed it after confirming the question-paper leak at 10:03am that day.
Following the incident, the SRB launched a shadow investigation. The Department of Youth Development filed a case with Motijheel Police Station on 11 October.
Legal action has been initiated against the seven arrestees.
The SRB said the investigation is underway to establish the full process through which the question paper was obtained and distributed and to identify others involved in the leak.