BANGALORE: Answer scripts of post-graduate medical students who wrote their exams earlier this year were tampered with, an inquiry has revealed.
The Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) has found answer scripts re-stitched with extra sheets.
The scam, which will impact the results of many, came to light after the vice-chancellor, registrar and some Syndicate members got an anonymous letter.
The letter stated that the 2014 medical, dental and para-medical answer scripts had been clandestinely modified after the exams. The university then decided to conduct an inquiry.
On July 26, the Syndicate formed an internal inquiry committee led by Dr Rajesh Shenoy. The cheating relates to the April-May exams.
A senior Syndicate member told Express, “The letter mentions how the malpractice took place, and we had to look into it. It may not be new, but it has come to our knowledge now.”
When contacted, Dr Rajesh Shenoy, inquiry officer, said, “We are still in the process of finalising our report. The final report will be submitted to the vice-chancellor before August 14, and to the Syndicate on August 14.”
A preliminary submission, now before Vice-Chancellor Dr Ravindranath, confirms the cheating. It states: “As a part of our inquiry, we cross-verified the invigilator dairy, randomly selected three medical colleges and the answer scripts of three candidates… and (we are) shocked to find answer scripts belonging to one particular candidate were restitched.”
The inquiry committee has requested Dr Ravindranath to direct the registrar of evaluation not to destroy any scripts and to lock the rooms where the answer scripts are stored.
The committee suspects the role of senior university staff, such as assistant and deputy registrars and staff in the university exam section. Various medical colleges and the official courier agency are also complicit, it believes.
Dr Sachidanand Babu, registrar of evaluation, said, “The inquiry is going on and we cannot say anything before getting the report.”
How Scam Came to Light
A student identified as Ullas writes to the university about the cheating.
University forms an inquiry committee with Dr Rajesh Shenoy, Dr Ramesh and Dr Kiran Kumar.
Committee finds evidence of tampering, suspects role of university and college staff, besides courier agency.