IPS officer cheats in UPSC mains exam; arrested

A young IPS officer on probation, writing his civil services exam again in the hope of clearing the IAS this time, was caught using a Bluetooth device to get answers for the questions. Not very different from how the character played by Sanjay Dutt gave his medical entrance exam in the movie, Munna Bhai MBBS, or Kamal Haasan did in the film’s Tamil version, Vasool Raja MBBS. While in the films a professor helped the stars, for Safeer Karim, it was his wife, Joyce Joy.

A resident of Kerala, Karim appeared for the exam as he wanted to be an IAS officer.
Karim has been taken into custody and charged under Section 420 of the IPC (cheating and dishonesty) and 20 (B) (criminal conspiracy). Since his wife is in Hyderabad, a senior police officer said they have sought the help of their counterparts in Hyderabad to take her into custody. “A team of officers from Chennai will go to Hyderabad soon,” said the officer.

His wife, a visiting faculty at an IAS coaching centre, was helping him from Hyderabad. He would send pictures of the question paper by WhatsApp to his wife in Hyderabad, and she would call him on the phone with the answers.

Police arrested Karim on Saturday, following a tip-off from the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

A mobile phone, a Bluetooth device, and wireless earplug speakers were seized from Karim, Assistant Superintendent of Police (Trainee), barely minutes before he was to begin writing the Civil Services mains exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Official sources said Karim may face disciplinary action, including dismissal from service, as he was still on probation.