The CBI’s Mumbai Special Task Branch has arrested four people, including a CGST inspector from Kolkata, for allegedly operating a multi-state impersonation and cheating network in Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) recruitment examinations and interviews. The arrests followed coordinated raids in Delhi, Haryana and West Bengal after IBPS filed a complaint with the agency.
The accused were arrested on Thursday and are scheduled to be produced before a court in Mumbai for regular remand on Friday, according to the CBI. The agency alleged that the four men were part of a gang that appeared as dummy candidates for other applicants during written examinations and subsequent interviews for bank recruitment.
The CBI said the alleged impersonators entered multiple stages of the recruitment process by physically appearing in place of the actual candidates. The operation is being investigated across Delhi, Bihar, Haryana and West Bengal, with the agency examining how candidates allegedly secured public sector bank jobs through fraudulent means.
The case emerged from an analysis conducted by IBPS, an autonomous organisation that assists banks and other institutions in selecting personnel. The IBPS division head of its research and development department at Thakur Complex in Kandivli alleged in the complaint that the organisation used data analysis, photo comparison and biometric matching to examine candidates who appeared in recruitment examinations conducted between 2020 and 2024.
That exercise flagged 257 selected candidates as suspects in alleged impersonation or other unfair means. IBPS identified 54 impersonators who allegedly appeared for two or more candidates, helping 172 candidates secure bank jobs. Another eight impersonators allegedly appeared for single candidates, helping eight more applicants obtain appointments.
According to the complaint, 180 of the candidates identified by IBPS are currently working in various public sector banks across India. The figures indicate that the alleged misconduct may have affected not only the examination process but also the functioning of institutions that recruited candidates through it. The investigation will have to establish the identity of the candidates, the roles of the alleged impersonators and the extent to which appointments were obtained through the network.
The case also overlaps with two similar cases registered earlier by the CBI’s Bhopal unit involving 41 candidates accused of wrongdoing in examinations in Madhya Pradesh. Of those candidates, 39 are part of the list of 180 candidates flagged by the IBPS Kandivli office. IBPS said 45 candidates had been investigated by the Bhopal unit and requested the CBI’s Mumbai branch to examine the remaining 135 candidates who allegedly secured bank jobs fraudulently.
The arrests place renewed attention on the verification systems used in large-scale public recruitment, where examinations, interviews, identity checks and biometric records are handled across multiple locations. In this case, IBPS’s data analysis and biometric matching formed the basis of the complaint that led to the CBI investigation. Further proceedings will determine whether the allegations are supported by evidence and what action may follow against candidates or employees found to have benefited from the alleged fraud.
