Bluetooth Devices in Turbans, Socks, Undergarments: How Punjab Police Cracked the BFUHS Pharmacy Officer Exam Cheating Scam

Punjab has been rocked by the discovery of an elaborate cheating operation that unfolded during a major government recruitment exam. The Pharmacy Officer Recruitment Examination, held by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) to fill 454 posts, turned out to be the target of a well-funded, tech-driven racket that helped select candidates cheat in real time, right under the noses of exam invigilators.

The test was conducted across 18 centres in Faridkot, Kotkapura and Ferozepur, drawing close to 7,000 aspirants. It was this wide spread of venues, and the sheer scale of the operation needed to service them, that eventually made the racket easier for investigators to trace once suspicion was raised.

The exam ran from 11 am to 1:30 pm on Sunday, July 19. According to police, there was no leak of the question paper before the test began. Instead, the cheating started only after candidates had already sat down and the exam was underway, catching invigilators off guard since nothing appeared unusual at the outset.

How the Racket Actually Worked

The method used was strikingly organised. Within the first fifteen minutes of the exam, one candidate at a Ferozepur centre allegedly used a pen fitted with a hidden camera to photograph the question paper. That image was sent over WhatsApp to an associate based in Bhiwani, Haryana, who passed it along to another handler stationed in a makeshift control room set up inside a house in Faridkot.

From that control room, a small team worked to solve the paper at speed and relay the answers back to candidates sitting inside the exam halls. This was done through tiny, battery-powered wireless devices that candidates had been given ahead of time, small enough to be tucked away and worn without detection.

Where the Devices Were Hidden

This is where the operation showed just how far it had been planned in advance. Investigators found that candidates had concealed the miniature Bluetooth devices in places designed specifically to avoid a routine frisking, tucking them into turbans, hiding them in socks, and even stitching them into undergarments. Paired with the hidden pen cameras and earpieces, this setup allowed a live, two-way channel between the exam hall and the outside world for the entire duration of the test.

How It Was Finally Caught

The breakthrough came from the university's own flying squads, who had already received prior intelligence flagging certain candidates as suspicious. Acting on this, teams intensified checks during the exam itself and caught a candidate receiving assistance through a Bluetooth device. That single detection unravelled the wider network, leading police to trace the chain back through the handlers in Haryana all the way to the control room in Faridkot.

Who Was Behind It

Investigators have named Gurmeet Singh, an employee at Sant Kabir Polytechnic College in Fazilka, as the alleged mastermind who organised and financed the operation. Several other individuals from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan have also been identified as key operators who helped solve papers and relay answers.

The racket did not come cheap. Candidates were reportedly charged anywhere between Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 13 lakh for a guaranteed pass, with many handing over post-dated cheques as a form of security to the scammers. On the morning of the exam, several members of the gang are said to have gathered at a hotel along the Faridkot-Kotkapura Road to hand out the wireless devices to paying candidates before they headed to their respective centres.

The Numbers So Far

In total, 35 people have been detained,  28 candidates caught using the devices, and 7 alleged key operators of the network. Police have recovered 27 wireless devices along with pen cameras and the post-dated cheques used as financial guarantees. FIRs have been registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act, and further raids are underway to track down remaining members of the network.

BFUHS has confirmed the cheating took place but maintains there is no evidence of any question paper leak or involvement of university staff, insisting the exam's security was intact right up until candidates began exploiting hidden devices once the test was already in progress.

A Political Row Follows

The scandal has also triggered a political slugfest. With the BJP and AAP already trading barbs over the handling of the NEET paper leak protests in Delhi, BJP leaders have seized on the Punjab case to turn the spotlight on the AAP-run state government. Party spokespersons have questioned why a cheating scandal of this scale in a state governed by AAP has not drawn the same outrage as the protests in the capital, framing it as a case of selective activism.

Police say their investigation is ongoing, with efforts focused on identifying more people linked to the network, tracing how the equipment was sourced and distributed, and checking whether similar tactics may have been used in other recruitment exams in the past. Further arrests are considered likely as the probe continues.

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