BANGALORE: If movies are the new motivations for crime, then it seems Bollywood blockbuster ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ has spelled its charm on a Hyderabadbased medical seat aspirant. For, he too, took the ‘reel’ way to clear the entrance exam and get a medical seat. This student chose to take a well-equipped hidden camera powered by a wireless bluetooth hearing device to attend Post Graduate Entrance Test (PGET), to clear his exam on Sunday.
His modus operandi was to scan the question paper from his hidden camera and send it to his cronies in Hyderabad, who would respond with answers through text message format.
While this student relied on fancy gadgetry, he was unaware that Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) had its own arsenal of technology.
Supervisors at RGUHS watched live streaming of the examination that was scheduled at eight centres in the city.
The student, who was struggling to check the answers on his phone, was caught red-handed by the invigilator. “The incident took place in Jain College (JC Road) centre. The invigilator was suspicious of the student’s movements. When he was frisked, the invigilator found these devices. The student later confessed that he was unaware of CCTVs in the room,” said N S Ashok Kumar, Registrar (Evaluation), RGUHS. This being the only instance of malpractice out of 9,129 medical students and 2,178 dental students who took the exam, Vice-Chancellor Dr Sriprakash K S called it a ‘success story’. “The exam went smoothly. It is unfortunate that one student was caught.
We have informed the local police. While we had taken all precautions, students have to be straight forward and take the exam in a fair way,” he said. A case under section 420 of IPC has been registered by SJ Park police who are questioning the student. The key answers of the PGET exam will be out on February 1.
Jayesh P, a medical student, said, “The entrance was comparatively easy, with many questions from last year’s paper. Anamika Patel, a medical student from M S Ramaiah Medical College, said, “The entrance examination was fairly easy this year. The cutoffs for colleges will shoot up as the entrance was comparatively easier than we had all expected,” adding that the biometrics left no room for errors.