This modified scientific calculator, seized from an admission seeker of Haji Danesh Science and Technology University in Dinajpur during an entry test on Tuesday, was reported to have a camera and a SIM card with internet connection and was used for leaking out question papers. Photo: Star

At first glance, it appears just like an ordinary scientific calculator. But on a closer look, what the teachers of Dinajpur's Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU) saw baffled them.

Inside the case of the calculator is a sophisticated device with a camera and a SIM card. The machine is at once a scanner and a smartphone.

Using the device, a candidate of HTSU's undergraduate admission test on Tuesday was scanning the question paper and sending the images to his accomplices outside, and the answers were appearing on its screen soon afterwards.

The admission seeker -- Abul Hossain Liton -- was detained with the machine 40 minutes into the A unit test. He was later handed over to the police.

Police and the HSTU authorities said the calculator had a camera on the backside and a slot of SIM card for internet connection.

"It's really an innovative device to cheat during examinations and a big gang is involved with it, we suspect," said Prof Shahadad Hossain Khan, head of Soil Science department and a member of the HSTU admission test committee.

Even after the seizure of the device, messages containing the answers kept appearing on the tiny screen for a few minutes. But when the news spread on the campus, it stopped, he added.

"People with formidable IT expertise must have been involved in developing such a device that apparently offers a complete solution for those who want to cheat in the examinations," said Prof Ruhul Amin, vice chancellor of the HSTU.

The arrestee said he had struck a deal with some people two days before the test and they had provided him with the device in exchange of Tk 50,000.

"I paid half the amount. I was supposed to return the device after the test and hand them my admit card which they would return after I paid the rest" Liton told reporters at Dinajpur Police Station.

Sub-Inspector Nazmul Haque of the police station said the arrestee had told them that a total of 47 such devices were distributed among those who took the test.

Liton also had given the police the names of some people involved with the gang and police were hunting for them, he said.

Meanwhile, the HSTU authorities held an emergency meeting on Tuesday night and suspended two Chhatra League leaders -- Arun Kumar Roy, general secretary of university unit of the BCL, and Jahid Hasan, president of the Zia Hall BCL -- for their alleged involvement with the gang.

The university formed a four-member committee to look into the incident, and decided not to allow any electronic devices in the subsequent admission tests.