A recruitment fraud has come to light in the Bank Note Printing Press (BNP) Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, after it was found that a candidate secured a government job by using a proxy in the recruitment examination.

According to sources, on May 26, an officer at BNP Dewas appeared at the local police station and submitted a complaint against a candidate, Sarwan Kumar, alleging that he had used a proxy to clear the online examination for the post of Junior Technician conducted on August 2, 2021.

The application revealed that Kumar, with the help of an associate identified as Deepak Kumar, committed fraud by impersonation, police sources said.

An FIR under the relevant sections of BNS has been registered in the case.

As the examination took place at ION Digital Zone in Mumbai’s Powai area, the case has been transferred to Powai Police Station on Zero FIR for further investigation.

According to the police sources, BNP Dewas had advertised 135 posts under Direct Recruitment on May 12, 2021, with recruitment handled by M/s IBPS, Mumbai.

Kumar cleared the online test on August 2, 2021, and was later appointed as Junior Technician on November 10 the same year. He was then working at the W-2 level.

As part of a five-year recruitment verification drive, his facial and biometric verification was conducted in July 2025. Reports from IBPS dated July 14 revealed a mismatch between Kumar’s facial data and the photograph captured during the 2021 exam.

Further comparison confirmed that the person who appeared at the exam centre in Powai was not Kumar.

During the interrogation on July 25, in the presence of BNP officials and the Intelligence Bureau, the accused reportedly admitted that he had not appeared for the exam himself and instead, a proxy candidate named Deepak Kumar took the test on his behalf for a payment of Rs 15,000.

The authority suspect that this incident may be part of a larger gang involved in supplying proxy candidates for recruitment exams.

They registered the case at BNP Dewas and transferred the case to Powai Police Station, (Zero FIR) Mumbai, for a detailed investigation.

This article first appeared on Mid Day