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Those arrested from the hotel include Gurivi Reddy, Mahindra, Jagdeesh, Thamin Khan, Afroz, Siddhartha Subhadra, Promila and Rahemu Nnisa. As per CBI officials, Gurivi Reddy a resident of Hyderabad, is the mastermind behind the cheating gang, while the others are from Tamil Nadu and other parts of Andhra Pradesh.
The officials, however, said that the seven girl students had appeared for the exam only to take pictures of the question paper and get it leaked. The agency officials believe that there may have been some candidates at the examination centres who were to receive the answers but they are yet to be identified.
“The modus operandi of the gang involved the candidates taking pictures of the question papers through cameras in their clothes and sending them through mobile phones to other members in Patna and Hyderabad. These members solved the questions and e-mailed the answers back to the accomplices in local hotels, who subsequently flashed the answers to the mobile phones of the candidates in the exam hall,” said CBI DIG Mahesh Aggarwal.
He also ruled out impersonation and said that it was a case of cheating. “However further investigations are on and CBI teams are working on specific vital clues,” he added.
According to CBI officials, the agency’s anti-corruption branch had reliable information regarding cheating in the exams, following which, checking was conducted in the examination centers and the seven girls were found to be using sophisticated equipments like camera, mobile phones and blue tooth.
Raids were also conducted in city hotels on Saturday, which led to the other nine arrests. CBI officials said laptops, micro earphones, sophisticated mobile phones, blue tooth devices, SIM cards, special clothes fitted with sophisticated devices , button-hole cameras, tablet computer, wireless ear plugs, medical books, electric solders, fitting equipments, ATM cards and cash were recovered from the members of the gang in the hotel. The experts in Patna and Hyderabad have also been apprehended by the local CBI branches. Officials said the gang had been involved in a number of similar rackets .
Meanwhile, PGI’s official spokesperson Manju Wadwalkar said no decision had been taken on cancellation of the examination. “ It has not been decided. PGI has also decided to withhold the result of the exam which was to be declared on Sunday,” Manju said.
Being a doctor in PGI myself, its disheartening to see such things happening around. Its really important to catch hold of all those involved in the scam and punish appropriately. As in any other profession, paper leaks occur in medical exams too. Unless we clean the political system completely, its impossible to stop such events..
