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Another examination scam surfaces in Madhya Pradesh
Marks of BDS and nursing students at colleges affiliated to Jabalpur’s Madhya Pradesh Science University were jacked up while many of them were shown to have cleared the test in June even they did not take their exams, an inquiry committee has found
Marks of Bachelor of Dental Science (BDS) and nursing students at colleges affiliated to Jabalpur’s Madhya Pradesh Science University were jacked up while many of them were shown to have cleared the test in June even they did not take their exams, an inquiry committee has found.
Medical education minister Vishwas Sarang ordered an inquiry in the matter on the complaint of activist Akhilesh Tripathi that some students, who did not appear for the test, were declared to have passed the exam. A team of three university officials and information technology experts inquired into the matter and submitted its report on Monday.
An official said the report has highlighted loopholes in the system and found grave irregularities in the exam results.
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Mindlogics Infratech, a private firm, was outsourced the work of delivering question papers to private and government medical colleges under the university and preparing the result.
The inquiry committee found the university’s examination controller, Vrinda Saxena, clerk NiIesh Jaiswal, and an unidentified contractual employee changed the marks of students before final publications of the results.
“In one of the instances, the company manager sent an email having the practical marks of BDS and nursing students to Vrinda Saxena, when she was Covid 19 positive and was on leave in April. Saxena changed the marks on the sheet and sent it to the company. The company later released the result with modified marks,” said the inquiry report. HT has seen a copy of the report.
The report said the private company kept the mark sheets instead of providing them to the confidential branch of the university, thereby raising the possibility of tampering.
JK Gupta, the university registrar, has terminated the contract of Mindlogics Infratech for the alleged irregularities. and blacklisted it. He said Jaiswal has been suspended for getting the marks sheets of students on his personal mail as part of the fraud. “...Saxena, who received marks sheet on her email before the official announcement of the results, has been shifted to the Indore Medical College.”
Tripathi said a clerk would contact the students. “They would take ₹10,000 to ₹50,000 to increase the marks. The company’s manager used to change the marks on the direction of the controller.” He said the matter should be probed thoroughly as the private company was facing fraud charges also related to its work with the Agra University.
“I have moved court and requested it to hand over the investigation of the case to Central Bureau of Investigation or other independent investigative.” He added that there were similar irregularities in undergraduate and postgraduate medical examinations.
Sarang said they will probe the matter and not spare anyone. “Criminal cases will also be registered.”
The irregularities have surfaced eight years after an entrance examination, admission, and recruitment scam was exposed in Madhya Pradesh in 2013 involving Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, popularly known by its Hindi acronym Vyapam.
