National
Papers might have been leaked, police tell IoM
Police investigations show that the MBBS entrance questions of the Tribhuvan University Institute of Medicine were leaked. The questions matched the answers that were jotted down by the fake MBBS examinees and the kingpin of the racket that charged students promising help during the test.Manish Gautam
Police investigations show that the MBBS entrance questions of the Tribhuvan University Institute of Medicine were leaked. The questions matched the answers that were jotted down by the fake MBBS examinees and the kingpin of the racket that charged students promising help during the test.
More than 15 students and fraudsters, who had been using wireless devices to cheat, were arrested on October 14 from various entrance test centres. A team led by Samir Kumar Jha, who is currently in police custody, had introduced sophisticated communication devices that can be easily hidden by examinees.
Twelve of the answers matched the original answers that were recovered from Viber texts exchanged between the arrestees. The police had sought help of the Nepal Medical Council to tally the answers.
On Sunday, the Metropolitan Police Range, Teku, wrote to the IoM, pointing at the possibility of leakage of the entrance questions.
Police later found that the students had paid as much as Rs500,000 to the fraudsters who had promised successful results. Police have filed a case under “organised crime”. Immediately after the probe, the IoM, the TU medical wing, had decided to withhold the results.
Also, police were able to trace the phone calls between the device users while taking the entrance examination.
“While many matters will be decided by court, we’ve discussed possible evidences we have gathered so far that might be linked to the question leak,” said Senior Superintendent of Police Rabindra Dhanuk, chief of the Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu.
Dr Jagdish Agrawal, the IoM dean, confirmed the letter stating that a final decision on re-entrance will be taken after the TU’s probe committee decides on the matter.
Regarding the involvement of IoM officials in the crime, SSP Dibesh Lohani, chief of the Metropolitan Police Crime Division, said they did not have evidence of their involvement. “Instead, unlike in other years, the IoM has done its best to ensure that the examination was held transparently.
Also, the IoM had coordinated closely with the police and we were able to crack down on this complex case,” said SSP Lohani.
Only the students who pass the entrance test are eligible to apply for medical colleges affiliated to the IoM.