Syndicate unearthed by Crime Branch used to provide dummy examinees to applicants for management and medical entrance tests for a hefty price
This syndicate can teach a thing or two about ‘management’ to graduates from celebrated B-schools and ‘doctoring’ to prominent medical practitioners. Six people arrested yesterday by the Crime Branch used to provide dummy examinees to MBA and MBBS aspirants for a hefty price.
In the inquest, Crime Branch cops learnt that the six offenders would approach highly qualified B Tech students, engineers and doctors to sit in entrance exams conducted by various colleges, so the syndicate’s clients could get into some of the top management and medical schools in the country. Pics/Milind Karekar
ADVERTISEMENT
Cops received a complaint from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) after they discovered that some candidates who had appeared in the NMAT 2013 had dissimilar photos on their tickets for the entrance test and the group discussion. “I ordered the Cyber Cell’s Bandra unit and Crime Branch Unit VIII to investigate,” said joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy.
Con job
In the inquest, cops learnt that the six offenders would approach highly-qualified B Tech students, engineers and doctors to sit in entrance exams conducted by various colleges, so the syndicate’s clients could get into some of the top management and medical schools in the country.
“The accused used to approach MBA and MBBS hopefuls, as they operate several coaching classes and education consultancy firms like Meta Consultancy and Career Guidance in Ghaziabad and Noida. They promised admissions to top institutes that guarantee 100 per cent placements, if the candidates were willing to spend about Rs 20 lakh each,” said Roy.
Exams for dummies
They then filled the admission forms on behalf of the clients for various colleges and then the dummy examinees would appear in the entrance tests. “The candidates would then go to the group discussions (GDs) and personal interviews (PIs) themselves, but as they had scored well in the entrance exams, even if they didn’t perform exceptionally in the next stages, admission was virtually guaranteed,” said Roy. The syndicate had studied loopholes in the systems of various entrance tests, including GMAT, CAT and NMAT.
“The exams are conducted at numerous centres and the student can choose a place and time. The offenders would submit authentic photos at the time of applying on behalf of candidates, but would paste photos of the dummy examinees on the hall tickets and also prepare fake Aadhaar cards for the latter. At the time of PI and GD, the original applicants could go as hall tickets were different,” said Nandkishore More, inspector, Cyber Cell (Bandra unit).
“Our entrance test is conducted by Pearson Vue, a company engaged in testing services at a global level. We had found that 87 students had submitted different photos at the time of written test, PI and GD. So we registered a complaint with the Crime Branch. Around 69,000 people competed for the 600 seats for MBA at the institute,” said an NMIMS spokesperson.
Cops learnt that 61 people have already got admissions to NMIMS in 2013 by allowing dummies to appear for them, and 22 people who completed MBA this year from the institute had adopted similar means in 2011. “We will take a legal opinion to find out if we can book students too,” said Roy. The arrested accused have been identified as Brajendra Pratap Singh, Hanumant Singh Gurjar, Himanshu Shekhar, Sugriv Singh Gurjar (mediator between students and the dummies), Alok Kumar (dummy examinee, B Tech from VIT Kanpur) and Pavan Kumar.
22
People have completed MBA this year from the institute and had adopted similar means in the 2011 entrance exam
61
People have already got admissions to NMIMS in 2013 by allowing dummies to appear for them in the entrance examu00a0
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
