Lucknow, Feb 25 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force, which is probing the police recruitment paper leak case, has made its first arrest in the case.

The STF, on Sunday, arrested one Neeraj Yadav who had sent the answers to aspirants on WhatsApp. Yadav belongs to Ballia.

Neeraj, according to officials, was sent the answers from another accused in Mathura. STF officials said that they had started zeroing in on the second accused too.

It may be recalled that on Saturday, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered cancellation of the police recruitment examination "to maintain sanctity of screening exercise" and directed the Special Task Force to probe threadbare all allegations of paper leak.

He had tasked officials with conducting the re-exam within the next six months besides ferrying candidates to the examination centres free of cost using special UPSRTC buses. He also ordered a probe into complaints of irregularities in recruitment exams for Review Officer/Assistant Review Officer.

Of the 50 lakh applicants, over 43 lakh candidates had appeared in four shifts of the exam held across two days for over 60,400 posts of constables in UP Police.

In all, over six lakh students from outside the state took the exam that was held on February 17 and 18.

An FIR was registered on Friday following protests by candidates in Lucknow and some other places alleging paper leak.

The chief minister, after a meeting with top officials, issued the cancellation order. "There can be no compromise with the sanctity of examinations. Those who play with the hard work of the youth will not be spared under any circumstances. Strictest action will follow against such unruly elements," the chief minister posted on X.

Following Yogi's directive, the home department issued an order to cancel the examination. "The recruitment board has been instructed to proactively pursue legal measures, including initiation of FIRs, in response to any instances of negligence," the order stated.