On a February morning at his examination center in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun, Sangram* claimed he saw strange activity on a computer screen. The candidate next to him had his hands away from the mouse, but the screen allegedly showed answers being selected on his behalf. It was the CSIR-Combined Administrative Services Examination to recruit section and assistant section officers.

Sangram spoke to the invigilator, wrote to the Uttarakhand chief minister’s helpline, and even the media. He wasn’t the only one to raise such concerns. Two FIRs were subsequently filed in Dehradun and Rajasthan’s Behror over the alleged use of remote access in the exam, and the Central Administrative Tribunal took over the matter after several candidates moved the Delhi High Court. 

Notably, the agency that conducted that exam was blacklisted by the Uttar Pradesh government last week – for its alleged involvement in the UP police constable recruitment exam paper leak – amid the NEET controversy and rising anger over the alleged mismanagement of India’s premier exams. 

It wasn’t the only time this agency had found itself in the eye of a storm. In fact, despite a murky past, the Ahmedabad-based Edutest Solutions Private Limited continued to bag one contract after another.