Patna, March 29 (IANS): After widespread cheating in Bihar's secondary school board examinations hit the headlines, over 1,000 impersonators have been arrested in the state during the screening of documents for constable recruitment exam in the past 13 days, police said on Sunday.

A police officer said: "Never before such a large number of aspirants were arrested for impersonating."

He said a total of 1,068 impersonators have been identified and detected during screening test that ended on Saturday. The impersonators have been arrested between March 16 and 28.

"Highest number of 200 were arrested on March 28," the officer said, adding that the impersonators have been arrested when they came for physical test and produced fake documents.

The preliminary investigation into the case revealed that those arrested were hired by aspirants for taking the physical test. All the arrested youths were presented before a court and sent to jail, he said.

Last year, the state government initiated the process for recruitment of 11,783 constables.

The Bihar Central Selection Board for Constables has conducted written exams at various centres in the state.

About 52,000 candidates were selected for the screening of documents at Patliputra Sports Complex here.

In 2014, about 150 people were arrested for impersonating during the state-wide written examination for the recruitment of police constables.

Earlier this month, newspapers carried photographs of people climbing a school wall to throw answer sheets to students taking Class 10 exams inside. The photos went viral and grabbed national and international headlines.