Bathinda/Ferozepur, July 20 -- In a joint operation, police teams from the Faridkot and Ferozepur ranges, along with the state counter-intelligence (CI) wing, detained 35 persons, including 28 candidates, on Sunday for allegedly cheating during the recruitment examination for the pharmacy officers. According to police, the CI wing received specific inputs during the examination about an organised cheating syndicate operating simultaneously across multiple centres. The information was shared with Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) authorities at around 12.30 pm, following which examination centres were secured and coordinated searches were launched with the help of local police, police said. The exam, conducted by the BFUHS on behalf of the state health and family welfare department, was held at 25 centres across Faridkot, Kotkapura and Ferozepur. Nearly 7,000 aspirants appeared for the 90-mark written test scheduled from 11 am to 1:30 pm. According to Faridkot range police, 28 candidates were detained in Faridkot and Ferozepur, and 27 battery-operated wireless devices allegedly used for cheating were recovered during the operation, which were allegedly used with pen cameras and real-time dictation. The joint police teams apprehended the seven operators behind the scam from Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab.Police identified Gurmeet Singh, who is an employee at the Sant Kabir Polytechnic College in Fazilka, as the mastermind and facilitator. The other accused are Manjit Singh from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, Deepak, Sunil from Kotputli-Behror, Rajasthan, Satnam Singh from Guruharsarai, Balwant Singh and Abhiyant from separate places in Haryana. The identities of the detained candidates have not been disclosed. According to the investigators, within minutes of the exam's commencement, the conspirators used high-tech equipment like pen cameras and mobile devices to transmit the question paper. Police said that a candidate identified as Ayush (roll no. 426347), appearing at an examination centre in Ferozepur, used a concealed pen camera to scan the question paper, which was transmitted outside between 11:10 am and 11:25 am, via WhatsApp to an accomplice, Sajan, residing in Bhiwani, Haryana. Sajan forwarded the paper to another operative, Deepak, who was stationed at a makeshift control room inside the residence of Gurmeet Singh in the Society Nagar area of Faridkot. From this location in Faridkot, key accused Manjit Singh and Deepak dictated the answers via wireless equipment to several candidates sitting inside the exam halls. Investigators said that the preliminary probe found no evidence of a paper leak or involvement of any official. The breach, they said, occurred entirely in real-time after the exam had commenced.Faridkot range police authorities said that the racket charged candidates exorbitant sums ranging between Rs.3.5 lakh and Rs.13 lakh to 'guarantee passing marks.' "Several candidates had already handed over post-dated cheques (PDCs) as financial security to the scammers. The racket operated with corporate-level logistics. This morning, several operatives gathered at a hotel on the Faridkot-Kotkapura road to distribute the specialised, battery-operated wireless micro-devices to various candidates," reads the statement. Police said that the investigation conducted so far has found no involvement of any official, internal individual or "insider" so far. In a post on X, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring blamed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, stating that no signal jammers were installed at the examination centres. "Punjab's youth deserve fair recruitment, not exams clouded by serious cheating allegations," the post further reads. He demanded a re-test and the resignation of the state health minister, Balbir Singh, on moral grounds....