A supervising teacher was caught on the camera helping students cheat in the class-X board examination in India’s Uttar Pradesh.

Five persons were arrested in three eastern UP districts on the first day of UP Board exams. In Allahabad, special task force (STF) of UP police arrested three persons, including principal Shiv Prasad Singh, invigilator Anil Tiwari and a staffer Shiv Shankar Mishra of Bal Bharti Intermediate College in Naini for facilitating mass copying for a group of examinees, reports The Times of India.

Additional SP Praveen Singh Chauhan said, ‘Principal Shiv Prasad Singh had a history of facilitating copying so we were keeping an eye on his activities. We were tipped that he got question paper solved and was dictating answers to students. Besides cheating material, mobile phones have also been seized,’ said Chauhan. An FIR was lodged against them at Naini police station and report to education department was sent to blacklist the school and conduct exam of around 30 students again.

In Chandauli, the squad constituted to curb copying came across a fake invigilator. Cops arrested 22-year-old Surendra Pratap from Dev Narayan Inter College in Basila locality.

Sector magistrate Gulab Chandra said that illegal activities were also detected at Rama Shankar Inter College in Amada locality and its manager Sudhir Kumar Singh was booked. Both were sent to jail. A high school girl found using unfair means was asked to leave.

District inspector of schools of Gorakhpur, Gyandendra Pratap Singh came across some anomalies at Gram Sthali Balika Inter College in Balipar area. Doubting mass copying, DIOS changed the centre head and took some papers into possession for further inquiry. No FIR was lodged. ‘We changed the centre head and gave the charge to a teacher. We also found that three invigilators were not carrying their identity cards with them and they were kept in the office,’ said DIOS. The centre head Pragya Singh could not be contacted even after repeated attempts.

The five arrested have been booked under Uttar Pradesh Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 1998.