PATNA: What began as a moment of pride for a village in Sheikhpura district quickly turned into embarrassment after a resident’s claim of clearing the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) civil services examination (CSE) 2025 was found to be false.Ranjeet Kumar, a resident of Fatehpur village in Ariyari block, claimed that he had cleared the UPSC examination and become an IAS officer. The claim spread rapidly on social media and soon triggered celebrations in the village.As the news gained momentum, former RJD MLA from Sheikhpura Vijay Samrat visited Ranjeet’s house along with supporters. He honoured him by placing a garland around his neck, presenting a bouquet and gifting a briefcase. Sweets were distributed in the village and the family celebrated what appeared to be a remarkable achievement.The excitement soon reached the local police station as well. Mahuli SHO Rampravesh Bharti invited Ranjeet to the police station, where he was garlanded and offered laddoos while being congratulated for his success.However, the celebration did not last long.Some youths in the village decided to verify the result and checked the official UPSC list. They discovered that the candidate who had actually secured the All India Rank 440 was Ranjith Kumar R from Chikkaballapur in Karnataka, not Ranjeet Kumar from Sheikhpura.The UPSC results were declared on March 6. In the list, Ranjith Kumar R of Karnataka secured the 440th rank. Ranjeet allegedly presented this result as his own and informed people that he had cleared the UPSC examination and become an IAS officer.Mahuli SHO Rampravesh Bharti said the police later asked him to produce documents.“Ranjeet himself came to meet me after results were out on March 8. When the truth came to light after a day on March 8, I called Ranjeet on the phone and asked him to come to the police station with his admit card and Aadhaar. After getting a call, Ranjeet understood the situation and fled from his house. His family members said that he went to Delhi and was no longer answering his phone,” Bharti said.He added that the police were examining whether Ranjeet deliberately faked clearing the UPSC examination or mistakenly believed that he had passed.After the matter came to light, former MLA Samrat deleted the photographs and posts related to the felicitation from his social media accounts.Residents said several friends of Ranjeet had earlier cleared the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) examination and become officers. Ranjeet comes from a poor farming family and had been living in Mukherjee Nagar in Delhi while preparing for competitive examinations. His father, Arjun Yadav, is a farmer.Similar incidents surfaced elsewhere after the UPSC results were declared. A resident of Bhojpur district claimed to have secured the 301st rank in the examination. However, the UPSC later clarified that the actual candidate who secured that rank was another person from Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh, who was already working as a gynaecologist.Another aspirant from Uttar Pradesh believed that she had secured the 113th rank after noticing her name in the result PDF. She later apologised for the confusion after realising that the roll number mentioned in the list belonged to another candidate.