15 held for leaking exam papers with mobiles

Chandigarh, Nov 11 (IANS) The CBI arrested 15 people, including eight women, for leaking medical entrance examination papers via mobile applications using smartphones, an official said here Sunday.

Interrogation of the accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) revealed that the gang was using latest mobile applications to leak question papers of the M.D. and M.S. (doctor of medicine and master of surgery) entrance examination of the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here.

The 15 accused were sent to CBI custody till Nov 15 by a court here Sunday.

The matter came to light following simultaneous raids Saturday by the CBI in Chandigarh and other places to bust the racket. The raids were conducted during the examination being held here. The examination was stopped following the raids.

The course is very sought after by medicine graduates (MBBS) and only a few among hundreds are able to get into it.

CBI sources said the gang would take pictures of the questions papers and transfer them through another software using high-resolution fonts.

Subject experts sitting hundreds of kilometres away in Patna and Hyderabad, delivered the answers to the “beneficiaries” in examination halls through touts in a hotel here.

“We have seized smartphones from eight women who were inside the examination hall yesterday. They were using latest mobile applications to transfer data,” a CBI official said here.

CBI counsel P.K. Dogra said that the probe agency had sought the remand of the accused to investigate who else were involved in the entrance paper leakage.

Two years ago, the CBI had investigated another racket for admission to the M.D. and M.S. course at the PGIMER.

IANS 2012-11-11 22:02:10