Photographer held from Jalore for helping RAS officer forge admit cards

Jaipur: The Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police Monday arrested a 40-year-old photo studio owner for allegedly manipulating photographs to help arrested RAS officer Hanumana Ram pose as a dummy candidate in the Sub-Inspector (SI) 2021 examination.

ADG SOG VK Singh said that the accused, identified as Mahendra Kumar, ran Ajanta Photo Studio in Jalore's Bhinmal town, where he provided photo-mixing services to morph images of Hanumana with those of his friend Ram Niwas and another candidate, Narpat Ram, to create fake admit cards. Singh mentioned that Hanumana then allegedly sat for the SI exam on behalf of Ram Niwas and Narpat Ram.

"The accused edited photos of Hanumana with Ram Niwas and Narpat Ram to generate composite images, which were then used to replace original photos on their admit cards. On Sept 14, 2021, Hanumana replaced Narpat's photo and appeared for the exam. Next day, he used Ram Niwas's tampered admit card to sit for the test again," Singh stated.

Hanumana, who was posted as sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in Jaisalmer's Fatehgarh, was arrested last week along with Ram Niwas. Investigations suggest Kumar, who also worked as a wedding photographer, may have facilitated similar photo-editing for other dummy candidates. "We are probing whether Hanumana impersonated more aspirants in competitive exams with the accused's help," said an official.

The arrest followed the interrogation of Hanumana and Ram Niwas, arrested last week, and Narpat Ram, arrested from Goa. SOG sources said Hanumana is under scrutiny for allegedly acting as a proxy for multiple candidates. "The accused's role in manipulating documents for other exams is being investigated," an official said.

The SOG suspect a potential racket wherein Kumar forged admit cards in competitive exams. "We are expanding our probe to identify additional beneficiaries of this racket," said an official, adding that the accused's shop will be searched along with a probe of all his digital evidence to find out how many photos he altered.