PRAYAGRAJ, March 11 -- Five fake candidates were caught appearing in place of registered students during the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Board high school and intermediate exams on Tuesday. Four were apprehended in Etah and one in Auraiya. FIRs have been filed against them under the Uttar Pradesh Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, board officials said.

In the first shift, 27,47,559 students were registered, including 27,12,528 high school students for social science and 35,031 intermediate students for vocational subjects. Out of these, 25,48,586 students were present, and 1,98,973 remained absent.

In the second shift, 1,22,414 candidates were registered for subjects like sewing in high school and Sanskrit, agricultura...