More than 32 months after about 2,200 answer sheets of annual examinations of BTech, MBA and BBA courses were recovered from the terrace of the secrecy branch of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) in Rohtak, the university has reopened investigation into the case so that action cab be taken against the guilty.
Struggling to find out the truth behind the alleged scam, university vice-chancellor Sudhir Rajpal had written to Haryana DGP for a re-investigation into the case and superintendent of police Shashank Anand has now formed a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the matter.
"We have started the investigation and talking to the people who were involved in the case," said DSP Pushpa Khattri, who is heading the SIT in this case.
A senior functionary of the university told Hindustan Times, on the condition of anonymity, that strict action could not be taken against erring officials and students under the previous government. "Now a re-investigation has been started by the university more than two years after copies of answer sheets were recovered from the terrace of the secrecy branch of the MDU," he said.
"No doubt, a group of officials of the result branch was behind this smuggling of answer sheets but at that time the university had failed to take strict action against them and they joined their duties a few months after the suspension," he said while adding that the university had cancelled only one paper of the students whose answer sheets were recovered with the intention of tampering in these to increase their marks.
He said, "Now when the present government has promised to eradicate corruption, let's see what they do in this particular case".
"No doubt, a group of officials of the result branch was behind this smuggling of answer sheets but at that time the university had failed to take strict action against them and they joined their duties a few months after the suspension," he said while adding that the university had cancelled only one paper of the students whose answer sheets were recovered with the intention of tampering in these to increase their marks.
He said, "Now when the present government has promised to eradicate corruption, let's see what they do in this particular case".
Notably, the university had ordered an inquiry into the incident, but failed to take action against anyone.
THE CASE
The scam was unearthed on February 2, 2013 when 2,190 answer sheets were found abandoned on the roof of the administrative block of the university. It was suspected that these answer sheets might have been taken out by some persons to tamper with answers in copies of students who had not done well.
All answer sheets were unmarked and these were believed to have been smuggled out of the secrecy branch room for tempering.
According to the university sources, the packets were kept in two rooms of the secrecy branch located in a basement of the administrative block and the doors of the rooms were locked by the officers. The CCTV cameras installed at the secrecy branch rooms were found to be non-functional. Though several MDU employees and two teachers had been booked following a probe conducted by the SIT led by a DSP, the university failed to take action against anyone. Even the main suspect, identified as Ravi Gemini, went scot-free.