MUMBAI: The Mumbai police crime branch has arrested two candidates and two middlemen in connection with the paper leak of the competitive examination held by the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) for recruitment of drug inspectors in the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).

The MPSC and the police had initially said that only one woman had benefited from the paper leak, but the arrest of two more candidates has established that there were more beneficiaries.

“We have arrested candidate Sajid Sande from Sangli and Vijay Kingar from Buldhana. Two middlemen who played a crucial role in leaking the papers to them have also been arrested. They have been identified as Sandeep Kalate and Bhairavnath Kadam from Navi Mumbai,” said a police officer attached to the Crime Branch.

“Initially, in the preliminary report to the MPSC, we had said that only candidate Rutuja Patil, who was arrested earlier along with her father, Amrut Patil, and former boyfriend Lokesh Patil alias Gaurav, was the beneficiary. But now we have found two more beneficiaries — Kingar and Sande,” the officer said.

“We have placed them under arrest and also the intermediaries who helped them get the question papers,” he added.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Rohit Pawar has alleged that the MPSC drug inspector question paper was sold for around ₹12 lakh at Kautilya Classes in Nandurbar to candidates and their parents two days before the examination. They were required to pay an advance of ₹5 lakh, Pawar claimed.

“We are yet to ascertain the amount paid by the beneficiary candidates for the question papers,” the police officer said.

The leak came to light after Rutuja’s boyfriend, Gaurav Patil, emailed the MPSC alleging that the question paper had been leaked. Gaurav tipped off the commission on July 22, the day the results were announced.

According to the police, Gaurav said Rutuja had shared the leaked question set with him. Police have alleged that he informed the MPSC about the leak after Rutuja ended their relationship following her success in the examination. Gaurav was subsequently arrested.

Police have alleged that Rutuja’s father, Amrut Patil, procured the leaked paper two days before the examination through Pravin Patil, director of Kautilya Academy, a coaching institute in Nandurbar.

According to the Crime Branch, Pravin Patil had received the leaked question set from MPSC official Visheshwar Nakate, who allegedly stole it from the MPSC office in Navi Mumbai.

“Nakate made a copy and handed it over to Abhijit Lendave, another MPSC official. Lendave, in turn, handed the question set to a colleague, Gopal Marathe, who is also a student of Pravin Patil,” said the police officer.

The leaked paper was eventually given to Rutuja’s father, Amrut Patil, police said.

MPSC officials Abhijit Lendave, Visheshwar Nakate and Gopal Marathe were arrested by the Crime Branch earlier in the case. Pravin Patil, Rutuja Patil, Amrut Patil and Lokesh Patil alias Gaurav have also been arrested.

Rutuja had ranked seventh in the drug inspector examination held on March 22. According to the police, the leaked question set contained 77 of the 297 questions that appeared in the actual examination paper.