Mumbai: What began as a failed love story has snowballed into one of Maharashtra’s biggest recruitment scandals, exposing an alleged question paper leak in the Maharashtra Public Service Commission’s (MPSC) Drug Inspector examination and leading to the arrest of six people, including MPSC officials, a coaching institute operator, a candidate’s father, and the candidate’s former boyfriend.

The twist in the case came when Gaurav Patil, the former boyfriend of selected candidate Rituja Patil, alerted authorities about the alleged paper leak after the couple’s relationship turned bitter.

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According to investigators, Rituja’s father, Amrit Patil, allegedly purchased the examination paper from Praveen Patil, director of Kautilya Academy in Nandurbar, for his daughter. Police suspect the leaked paper was sold for around Rs 12 lakh, with an initial payment of Rs 5 lakh allegedly linked to some MPSC officials.

Investigators said Rituja shared the leaked question paper with Gaurav before the March 22 examination. While Rituja cleared the exam, Gaurav failed, triggering a fallout between the two and eventually ending their relationship.

Police believe the breakup proved to be the turning point. Upset over the developments and fearing Rituja would distance herself after securing a government job, Gaurav emailed the MPSC alleging that the examination paper had been leaked. Although he later tried to withdraw the complaint, the commission had already initiated an inquiry, setting off a full-scale investigation.

The probe allegedly uncovered a well-organised racket in which a fresh question paper was prepared before the examination by illegally extracting questions from the confidential question bank prepared by subject experts and circulating them to selected candidates.

A criminal case has been registered under the relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Maharashtra Competitive Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The six arrested accused are:

• Vishweshwar Dattatray Nakate, Assistant Section Officer (ASO), MPSC

• Abhijeet Ganpatrao Lendve, Under Secretary, MPSC

• Gopal Bhattu Marathe, Assistant Section Officer (ASO), MPSC

• Praveen Dilip Patil, Director, Kautilya Academy, Nandurbar

• Amrit Namdev Patil, father of candidate Rituja Patil

• Gaurav Patil, the whistleblower and Rituja’s former boyfriend

All six were produced before a court, which remanded them to police custody until September 2.

Following the revelations, the MPSC cancelled the entire recruitment process for Drug Inspector (Group-B) posts in the Food and Drug Administration Department.

The offline screening examination had been conducted on March 22 across six divisional headquarters in Maharashtra. Results were declared on June 12, with 506 candidates qualifying for interviews. Of these, 488 candidates appeared for interviews held between July 1 and July 22.

The commission said it received multiple complaints between July 22 and July 26 from candidates and public representatives alleging that some aspirants had obtained the question paper two days before the examination and circulated it through social media and electronic platforms.

After verifying the allegations, the MPSC decided to scrap the entire recruitment process instead of proceeding with the existing selection list.

The commission has assured candidates that a fresh examination will be conducted. Applicants who had already registered for the cancelled recruitment will not be required to submit fresh applications or pay any additional examination fees.