Following the arrest of former chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examination Mushtaq Ahmad Peer on Saturday, for allegedly selling the question papers of last year’s Common Entrance Test (CET) to middlemen, the authorities are closely looking into the entrance exams conducted by the JKBOPEE in 2010, 2011 and 2013.
Peer is said to have received `65 lakh in exchange for leaking the questions.
“We arrested ex-JKBOPEE chief Peer here over his involvement in the (question) paper leak in CET 2012. We had been interrogating him from Tuesday and after finding enough evidence against him, we arrested him on Saturday,” said a senior police official.
An autonomous body, the JKBOPEE holds the CET for admission to the various engineering and medical colleges in the state.
According to the official, the crime branch which arrested Peer will produce him before a Magistrate on Sunday to seek extension of his police remand.
Earlier this week, the CB sleuths had raided Peer’s residence and seized his mobile phones and laptop as well as other documents.
Sources said the CB had taken up the probe into CET 2012 paper leak after malpractices were detected and an FIR was registered in the case on September 26.
“The CB officials questioned more than five touts from South Kashmir, including Farooq Ahmad and Sajjad Hussain Bhat, who is under custody.”
“During questioning, the middlemen whose network extend all the way from South Kashmir to here, disclosed that Peer was the kingpin of the scam. They (touts) told interrogators that Peer sold the set of question papers to them for `65 lakh and they in turn had earned `5 crore by selling them (papers) to the students of affluent families for `10-`20 lakh,” they said.
At least 40 students are under the scanner and the CB has established cases against 15 students for securing admission through fraudulent means.
“All of them figured among the top 40 in the merit list for MBBS in CET 2012. After securing the admission through fraudulent means, the beneficiary students opted for MBBS in GMC Srinagar. However, they performed poorly in their studies. In fact, they failed in the internal examination and the matter was brought to the notice of the CB,” a top official said. During the probe the sleuths had scoured the call data records and bank details of the students and their parents.
“The beneficiary students were called for questioning and they accepted the ‘guilt’ after intense questioning,” he added. Sources said Peer was the scam’s mastermind. “He was appointed JKBOPEE chairman in 2010 and had the powers of the Controller of Examinations.”
“And he alone had access to the question papers by virtue of his position as the JKBOPEE chief. He alone had the information about five question paper setters within or outside J&K and knew which paper setter’s question paper was accepted and in which printing press it was printed,” they said.