Lucknow, September 23, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested two directors of Aces Infra Private Limited in connection with an alleged large-scale racket to rig an online examination conducted by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC).
The latest arrests have taken the total number of accused arrested in the case to 10, the STF said.
The two accused have been identified as Gagandeep Sharma, a resident of Mahima City under Ramnagari Police Station in Jaipur, and Yadavendra Singh. Both are residents of Jaipur and are directors of Aces Infra, the company responsible for selecting examination centres.
The STF said it had received continuous intelligence inputs about gangs involved in manipulating various SSC examinations. Following the inputs, a team was constituted under Additional Superintendent of Police, STF Field Unit Noida, Navendu Kumar, along with Sub-Inspector Akshay P.K. Tyagi, to investigate the network.
On May 22, the Gautam Buddh Nagar STF arrested seven members of an alleged solver gang, including alleged mastermind Pradeep Chauhan and hacker Amit Rana. They were allegedly involved in facilitating cheating during an examination held at Balaji Digital Zone in the Knowledge Park Police Station area of Greater Noida.
According to investigators, a proxy server was installed and the examination server was allegedly hacked. Links were then provided to candidates’ computers, allowing solvers to assist them during the examination. Police seized Rs 50 lakh in cash, proxy servers and other material during the operation.
The investigation found that Equity was the executing agency appointed by the SSC to conduct the examinations and had entered into a contract with Aces Infra for selecting examination centres in northern Indian states.
Balaji Digital Zone, where the earlier raid took place, had also been designated as an SSC examination centre by Aces Infra. The STF said 16 SSC examinations had been conducted there since 2025. However, Aces Infra had allegedly not paid the prescribed fees to the centre.
The probe also found that Aces Infra allegedly violated several security regulations applicable to examination centre operators. According to the STF, such lapses enabled centre operators to collect money from candidates and facilitate cheating.
Investigators have so far identified dozens of suspected examination centres across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi as allegedly linked to the examination scam.
The investigation also uncovered an April incident involving Mahadev Digital Zone in Dehradun, where cheating was allegedly facilitated using a proxy server. A case was subsequently registered at Kotwali Police Station in Dehradun, naming Pradeep Chauhan as the main accused.
Despite this, the STF said, Aces Infra allegedly designated another laboratory owned by Chauhan — Balaji Digital Zone in Greater Noida — as an SSC examination centre without taking cognisance of the earlier case.
The STF said Aces Infra was the primary contractor responsible for selecting examination centres and that evidence gathered during the investigation pointed towards the company’s alleged involvement in the examination-rigging network.
The investigation is continuing to identify other persons allegedly involved in the wider examination scam.
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