Six more held in CAT case

The Delhi police (Economic Offences Wing) on Monday arrested four persons -- Rajesh Snehan, Bharat Bhushan, Arvind and Mohinder -- in connection with the Common Admission Test paper leak.

Two brothers -- Nitesh Kumar Singh and Yashvir Singh -- were picked up in Pune, taking the total number of arrests made in the case to 14. Nitish was produced before a court, which remanded him to police custody till November 28. His brother will be put up before the court on Tuesday.

The Delhi arrests were made outside the same hotel where the Central Bureau of Investigation had on Sunday caught hold of four persons.

Investigations so far have revealed that the same gang had leaked question papers of other entrance exams too, CBI Director P C Sharma said in Delhi, indicating that the agency would probe this lead.

Initial estimates suggest that it is a Rs 100 crore racket, he said. But "I believe the scam is more larger, bigger and wider in nature and the amount estimated so far may be too small", he added.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court remanded to CBI custody till December 4 the four who were held on Sunday. A K Sinha, Kumar Suman Singh, Manoj Kumar and Hari Shankar Chaudhary have been booked under section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy, section 406 for breach of trust and section 380 for theft and produced before Metropolitan Magistrate V K Khanna on Monday.

"The four accused were arrested from room Nos 122 and 123 of Hotel Shanti Palace in Mahipalpur on the Delhi-Gurgaon road along with four students and photocopies of the question papers," the CBI prosecutor told the court.

When asked why their custody was needed, he said, "We want to unearth the entire conspiracy behind the leaking of the question papers. The accused have to be taken to various places in the country. We have to seize incriminating documents."

Khanna accepted the CBI plea and directed the agency to produce the accused persons on December 4.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing) Dinesh Bhatt said the four were demanding Rs 500,000-600,000 for the papers and were willing to accept the payment in instalments.