Bluetooth Trap: SOG to analyse mobile tower data at every SI exam centre

Jaipur: In a first-of-its-kind crackdown on organised cheating networks, Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) will analyse mobile tower data from every examination centre during the Sub-Inspector (SI) recruitment exam 2025, scheduled Sunday and Monday, deploying a technology-driven net to catch candidates using covert Bluetooth devices.Additional Director General of Police (SOG) Vishal Bansal said investigators will sift through mobile tower dumps collected from exam centres to detect cheating syndicates that rely on hidden Bluetooth earpieces linked to phones operating nearby.Bansal said the strategy hinges on tracking all mobile phones active in and around centres during the exam window."By analysing call patterns and identifying links between candidates and handlers supplying answers, we can expose organised impersonation and paper leak rackets," he said, adding that the SOG has already announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for exposing cheating rackets.SOG teams will be stationed across districts to coordinate surveillance and rapid response during the exam window, officials said.Investigators say cheating gangs typically deploy tiny Bluetooth earpieces worn by candidates, connected to a phone concealed nearby or kept outside the centre. That phone, in turn, communicates with a handler who relays answers in real time — a method that leaves a digital trail even if the earpiece itself does not.Police will extract tower dump data — essentially a log of all phones connected to nearby mobile towers — and filter it for red flags: devices that remained near a centre throughout the exam; numbers not belonging to registered candidates or staff; phones making repeated short calls or unusual data bursts during the test; and clusters of multiple devices linked to a single external handler.These suspicious numbers will then be cross-checked with call detail records.Officials said past recruitment exams exposed several gangs using Bluetooth-based cheating methods. While Bluetooth signals themselves operate only over a few metres and do not appear in tower data, the connected mobile phones do — creating what investigators describe as the "weak link" that can unravel entire networks.