India’s Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) may take criminal action against two candidates from its 2022 examination.
The USPC alleged the two candidates, named as Aysha Makrani (from Madhya Pradesh) and Tushar (Bihar) fraudulently claimed they had passed the examination and had been selected for the Public Service.
It is alleged the pair put their names against the roll numbers of two other candidates who had passed.
In a statement, the USPC said the pair forged documents to back their claims that they had passed the prestigious examination, from which candidates for the country’s Public Service are chosen every year.
It said both candidates took the examination, but failed at the preliminary stages.
Meanwhile, just a week after the 2022 results were announced, the UPSC examination cycle began again with the announcement that 3,600 candidates appeared for preliminary 2023 tests in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu State.
The USPC said that to ensure the smooth conduct of the exams, “elaborate arrangements were made at all exam centres in Madurai”.
“District Collector, M. S. Sangeetha personally inspected a few of the exam centres, and police security was tightened throughout the area,” the USPC said.
“These measures aimed to provide a secure and conducive environment for the candidates.”
In a separate development, officials in Telangana say candidates in the State’s Public Service examination earlier this year used AI tool, ChatGPT to get answers to the questions.
Investigators found one of seven accused in the scam used the AI tool after he got a leaked examination paper, then relayed the answers to other aspirants via Bluetooth earbuds during the examination.
They say this could be the first case in the country, where Government aspirants used ChatGPT to cheat and got caught.
New Delhi, 2 June 2023
