HC denies bail to prof in exam scam, says digital trail links her to live paper solving

Dehradun: Uttarakhand high court has rejected the bail application of assistant professor Suman Chauhan in the Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UKSSSC) graduate-level exam cheating case, holding that material collected by CBI prima facie pointed to her active role as an “outside solver” in an alleged live cheating arrangement during the Graduate Level Examination conducted by Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission on Sept 21, 2025. Justice Aashish Naithani said the allegations were not casual or peripheral, but involved interference with the integrity of a public recruitment examination.“The offence affects the fairness of the entire selection process and undermines public confidence in competitive recruitment,” HC said. According to the prosecution case recorded in the order, Chauhan received question paper images over WhatsApp while the exam was in progress from candidate Mohd Khalid and sent back solved answers.The case was re-registered by CBI on Oct 27, 2025, after it was first lodged at Raipur police station and later probed by SIT before being transferred to the central agency. Chauhan has been in judicial custody since Nov 28, 2025, and faces charges under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Uttarakhand Competitive Examination Act, 2023.The order recorded CBI’s allegation that Khalid, who was allegedly inside the examination centre, got photographs of portions of the question booklet sent through his sister Sabia to Chauhan, who then solved the questions and returned the answers while the examination was still underway. The court also noted CBI’s reliance on a WhatsApp exchange from the morning of Sept 21, 2025, in which Khalid allegedly asked Chauhan to remain available around 11.30am to solve multiple-choice questions related to his sister’s exam, and that she responded affirmatively.According to the order, three images containing 12 questions were allegedly sent to Chauhan at about 11.35am and answers were returned by about 11.45am. CBI also cited IPDR material showing Khalid’s WhatsApp-linked internet activity from inside the exam centre between 11:32:55am and 11:47:18am, along with a 32-second voice call made by Chauhan to Sabia at about 11.50am.The court also took note of seizures made during investigation, including mobile phones, a pen drive and a notebook whose last page allegedly carried handwritten answers to the 12 questions. It further recorded CBI’s allegation that question images and answer images were deleted and handwritten answers were defaced, suggesting an attempt to destroy evidence.Rejecting the defence claim of ignorance, HC said whether Chauhan knew the full nature of the arrangement would be tested at trial. But, at the bail stage, “the digital chronology, the visible features of the images, and the alleged post-occurrence deletion of material create a prima facie chain” that could not readily be explained as innocent conduct. The court added that factors such as her being a woman, having no criminal antecedents and the filing of the chargesheet were outweighed by the seriousness of the accusation and the electronic material on record.