Dr Anand Rai, whistle blower in the Madhya Pradesh medical entrance examination, better known as the VYAPAM scam, in his complaint has said “The NBE handed over the contract to Promteric without inviting tenders. Promteric has admitted to formatting evidence on the computers [after the NEET], which should have been maintained for a minimum of five years. This is a gross violation of the Indian Evidence Act”.

The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police has filed a charge sheet in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Satish Kumar Arora here against officials of Prometric Testing Pvt Ltd, hired by the National Board of Examinations (NBE), to conduct the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) in November 2016 for admissions to post graduate medical courses.

According to the charge sheet, computers at the examination centres managed by Prometric were compromised. In some cases, select computers were installed with a remote, screen sharing software, allowing ‘solvers’ outside to select the correct answers for the students.

In other instances, site supervisors, engineers and officials deployed by Promteric tampered with the security system and ensured that select candidates got access to the Internet by connecting remotely to another computer outside the examination hall, the police said.

According to the charge sheet, the aspirants paid between ₹2.5 to 3 lakh to access the Internet during the exam. In one centre in Chandigarh, the site supervisor, hired by CMS IT Services, left slips with answers for select candidates.

The NBE is also under investigation for hiring Promteric, an American company, without inviting tenders from other companies. The Crime Branch says Prometric’s staff reformatted the computers and destroyed evidence after the exam.

The charge sheet states that the involvement of “officials at the National Board of Examinations and Promterics” cannot be ruled out. Sources in the Crime Branch said a list of 500 students has been prepared in a supplementary charge sheet.

Soumitra Roy, Country Manager, Prometric India said the company was “not aware of any such development”.