BHOPAL: A committee set up by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in 2013 to look into the loopholes which led to employees of the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (Vyapam) exploiting the system to favour certain candidates, had in its 2014 report said that even the computer department was not aware that answer sheets of some candidates were asked to be left empty so that they can be filled later on.
Such a type of tampering happened in pre-PG exams of 2012 as well.
Fudging was done when even the tamper-proof confidential envelopes carrying question papers and answer sheets were not serialised by the board’s controller. The report said no software was used to make the examination system foolproof. Board controller Pankaj Trivedi and systems analyst Nitin Mohindra took out answer sheets from envelopes to alter them. In the same way, two more examinations were manipulated, the report added.
The MPPEB was mandated to conduct recruitment of nearly 5 lakh Class three and four employees, while the exams conducted for various posts saw participation of over four lakh candidates every year.
The report said the STF investigating the scam informed the board on September 18, 2013, and November 22, 2013, about those candidates who had benefited through the scam, after which the board rejected the candidature of 415. However, this led to over 100 seats in the medical colleges remaining vacant during 2013-14.
After the scam came to light following registration of an FIR in Indore in 2013, the MPPEB took steps to stop it.