Pharmacy paper leaks concerns have gripped Punjab’s youth after Punjab Police busted an organised cheating racket linked to the Pharmacy Officer recruitment examination. The exam, conducted across Faridkot, Kotkapura and Firozpur, was meant to fill 454 posts, but ended in the detention of 35 people, including candidates and alleged handlers.
What exactly happened during the pharmacy officer exam?
The written examination for Pharmacy Officer posts was conducted by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences on behalf of Punjab’s Health and Family Welfare Department. It was held across 18 centres in Faridkot, Kotkapura and Firozpur, drawing close to 7,000 candidates for a 90-mark written test, with 10 additional marks reserved for professional experience.
According to police, there was no leak of the question paper before the examination began. Instead, the breach occurred after candidates were already seated, using concealed devices to transmit questions out and receive answers back in real time.
How did the alleged racket actually work?
Investigators described a coordinated, cross-state operation. At a centre in Firozpur, a candidate identified as Ayush allegedly used a hidden pen camera to photograph the question paper between 11:10 am and 11:25 am, shortly after the exam began. The image was reportedly sent over WhatsApp to an accomplice named Sajan in Bhiwani, Haryana.
Sajan is said to have forwarded the image to another operative, Deepak, described by police as a “solver” working from a makeshift control room. That control room was allegedly set up at the residence of the racket’s suspected mastermind, Gurmeet Singh, in Society Nagar, Faridkot. Police identified Gurmeet Singh as an employee of Sant Kabir Polytechnic College in Fazilka.
On the morning of the exam, several members of the gang reportedly gathered at a hotel along the Faridkot-Kotkapura Road to hand out specially designed, battery-operated wireless devices to candidates who had paid for assistance, before they proceeded to their respective centres.
Who has been detained so far?
Punjab Police detained 35 people in connection with the case: 28 candidates caught using electronic devices, and seven people described as key operators or masterminds of the network. Officers recovered 27 battery-operated wireless communication devices, along with pen cameras, from those detained.
Police said candidates had allegedly paid amounts ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 13 lakh to secure help clearing the exam. An FIR has been registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act. Investigators said the network extended across Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, and that further raids are underway to trace remaining members.
Dr Neetu Kakkar, Medical Superintendent at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, said the state’s Health and Family Welfare Department had taken note of the incident. She clarified that the question paper was not leaked before the examination, and that certain candidates were instead caught cheating during the test through electronic devices. So far, police have said no university official or examination staff member has been found involved in the racket.
The pharmacy paper leaks controversy in Faridkot, Firozpur and Kotkapura has turned into a wider investigation into an alleged interstate cheating syndicate rather than a straightforward paper leak.
For Punjab’s youth preparing for competitive government exams, the case is a reminder of both the risks such rackets pose to genuine candidates and the tightening scrutiny authorities are now applying to recruitment exams across the state.