A highly organised interstate gang was leaking questions papers of examinations for postgraduate courses in various medical colleges in Jammu and Kashmir, investigations by the state Vigilance Organisation have revealed

Following the discovery of the racket the Board of Professional Entrance Examination was forced to cancel the exams.

Those involved in the scam included the administrator a private hospital, a college lecturer, a lawyer, some medical students, employees of a Delhi-based printing press and three other non-locals.

A team led by Senior Superintendent of Police Ghulam Hassan Bhat is heading the investigations.

"This gang managed to leak papers from a printing press with the help of an employee of the press, which was officially engaged by the BOPPE for printing the question papers," Bhat said in Srinagar on Monday.

He said his team had arrested lecturer Hamidullah Dar, the kingpin of the racket.

"Dar provided us vital clues and subsequently we raided places in udhiana, Punjab, from here we arrested one Sanjay Sharma. We also arrested Rohit Dhawan in another raid and both were subjected to sustained interrogation," he added.

The SSP said Dhawan's interrogation led "us to Ramesh Kumar working at a printing press in Delhi".

"We finally managed to arrest Ramesh Kumar three days back from an area on the outskirts of Delhi and he admitted during questioning that he was the origin of the leak."

The investigations revealed that the question papers were sold two days before the exams at a rate ranging between 10 and 15 lakhs.