BENGALURU: The case of tampering of marks card which had rocked the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) in 2013-14 has been given a quiet burial with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) filing a B-report. Surprisingly, though the case was closed in April this year, the Medical Education Department and university officials were not even aware of it for nearly three months.
In 2013-14, a few MBBS students who failed in some subjects were seen to have passed when their marks cards were issued. The university conducted an internal inquiry which prima facie proved there was some wrongdoing. The case was then handed over to CID for investigation.
When asked if they had received a copy of the closure report, department officials were surprised as none of the officials have received notices to appear in the case on behalf of the department. A deputy secretary in the Medical Education Department told Express, “We were not aware about it. We will contact the investigating officers and inquire about the status of the case.”
A copy of the CID report, dated April 1, which is available with Express, states: “The notice is served on complainant personally where he is present and it is submitted that he is not intending to proceed with the matter. Hence the B-report is accepted.” The investigating officer only said, “The B-report has been accepted by the court. We are not allowed to comment on it.”
What is shocking is that none of the authorities concerned -- Bangalore University from where the then registrar was sent on deputation to RGUHS as registrar (evaluation) and was facing allegations of tampering with the marks cards, RGUHS, Medical Education Department or even the local police station where the first FIR was filed -- were kept in the loop.
Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil was surprised that he was not updated about the development. “They mentioned in the report that they are filing a B-report due to lack of evidence. As we cannot say that we will not accept the B-report, we will continue with the departmental inquiry. I have instructed the department officials to communicate the same to the university.”
Unanswered questions
Why was the complaint filed with CID in the name of an official when Medical Education Department (government) was the complainant?
How was a copy of the closure report made available only to the then registrar (evaluation) of RGUHS who was facing charges of tampering with the marks cards?
Why were copies of the B report not sent to the government, Medical Education Department, RGUHS or any of the other departments concerned even three months after it was filed?
What was the case?
In 2013-14, three medical students who were supposed to have failed when the results were declared, had actually passed when the marks cards were issued. This issue was raised even in the Assembly and Council following which the Medical Education Minister handed over the inquiry to CID.
Prior to the CID taking over the probe, RGUHS had constituted an inquiry committee headed by then syndicate member Dr Jaikar Shetty where prima facie wrongdoing was established. The report blamed the then registrar (evaluation) and the head of a city-based software company which provided software services to the university and recommended inquiry into all the cases of retotalling since 2011.
Among those who got the tampered marks cards were children of VIPs. One student was from Rajarajeshwari Medical College while two were from KIMS, Bengaluru. The students lost one academic year as they were asked to take a re-examination.
Interestingly, instead of submitting documents to the university syndicate, the then registrar sought permission to destroy the answer scripts six months after the exams citing lack of storage space.