The three masterminds behind the Uttar Pradesh police recruitment examination question paper leak have been arrested, Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar said on Friday.

They are former employees of a company that transported question papers and had connived with some of the firm's present employees, also accused in the case, to leak the paper of the Uttar Pradesh recruitment test in the first week of February, he told a press conference at the police headquarters here. During investigation, it was found that the question paper was leaked when it was being transported to a strong room from a printing press, Kumar said and added that it was stored at a warehouse in Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Kumar said that the three arrested were part of an inter-state gang involved leaking question papers of government recruitment exams.

The number of people arrested in the case is now 54, according to police.

The examination to recruit constables, held on February 17 and 18, had to be cancelled as the question paper had been leaked. More than 48 lakh candidates had appeared for the test across Uttar Pradesh on the two dates.

Following the incident, the Uttar Pradesh government had ordered an investigation and re-test, and had later removed Renuka Mishra as the chairperson of the UP Police Recruitment and Promotion Board. She was on the "wait list" after her removal from the post and Director Vigilance Rajiv Krishna given the additional responsibility of the board The DGP said that following intensive investigation by several police teams and the Special Task Force, "we determined that the exam paper was leaked by these three persons".

Abhishek Kumar Shukla of Prayagraj, Shivam Giri of Mirzapur and Rohit Kumar Pandey of Bhadohi were arrested by a team of the STF in Ghaziabad on Thursday, Kumar said.

The names of the accused will be added to the FIR in the case, he said.

It has been registered under Indian Penal Code sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating by inducement), 467 (forgery of valuable documents), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 386 (extortion by putting any person in fear of death or of grievous hurt) at Gautam Buddh Nagar, said the officer.

Some other accused in the case will be arrested very soon, he asserted.

The Uttar Pradesh Police has lodged 12 FIRs in connection with the exam paper leaks in various districts of UP.

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