Pune Engineering College Caught in Late-Night Exam Scam; Professor, Three Students Arrested, ₹2 Lakh Cash Recovered
Pune Engineering College Caught in Late-Night Exam Scam; Professor, Three Students Arrested, ₹2 Lakh Cash Recovered
Pune, June 4 – A major exam malpractice racket has been busted at Parvatibai Genba Mozhe College of Engineering in Wagholi, Pune, exposing deep-rooted corruption within the academic system. A late-night police raid led to the arrest of a professor and three students, who were allegedly involved in allowing students to reattempt their engineering mathematics exam in exchange for hefty bribes.
The operation, carried out by the Crime Branch Unit 6 under Assistant Police Inspector Madan Kamble, took place around 2 AM on Tuesday following a tip-off. Officials recovered ₹2.06 lakh in cash, a fake key to the examination control room, and six bundles of tampered answer sheets.
Police identified the main accused as Professor Pratik Kishan Satav (37), who allegedly ran the racket in collaboration with students Aditya Yashwant Khilare (20), Amol Ashok Nagargoje (19), and Aniket Shivaji Rode (20). The scheme involved identifying students who performed poorly in the afternoon session of the Engineering Mathematics-II paper and offering them a chance to rewrite their answers late at night for fees ranging between ₹15,000 and ₹50,000.
According to investigators, students who paid were picked up in a private vehicle and brought to campus during the night. The accused would open the control room using a duplicate key, extract the relevant answer sheets, allow students to rewrite them, and then reseal the bundles to avoid detection. Khilare reportedly handled the coordination and collection of money, while Nagargoje and Rode facilitated access to the control room.
Professor Satav was caught red-handed supervising the operation when police raided the campus. Eight students were found rewriting their answer papers during the raid. All altered answer sheets, cash, and the duplicate control room key were seized.
The complaint was filed at Wagholi Police Station by Constable Shekhar Kate. The accused have been charged under Sections 303(2), 318(2), 318(4), and 61(2) of the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant sections of the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
The crackdown was executed under the supervision of Additional Commissioner Pankaj Deshmukh, DCP Nikhil Pingale, and ACP Ganesh Ingle, with field operations led by Inspector Wahid Pathan, API Madan Kamble, and their team comprising Karkhele, Sakate, Dongre, Tambe, Kate, Vyavhare, Takwane, Dhadge, Mandale, and Pansare.
This case has raised serious concerns about academic integrity, with a professor tasked with upholding education standards at the center of the fraud. Authorities have promised strict action and increased vigilance to prevent such breaches in the future. The incident serves as a wake-up call for educational institutions to review their exam security protocols and reinforce ethical practices.
