According to STF sleuths, the kingpin used to lure students to exchange solved copies of the semester exams wi... Read More

MEERUT: Uttar Pradesh police’s Special Task Force (STF) busted a gang involved in running a massive cheating racket which helped over 600 non-meritorious students become doctors in the state.

The racket’s kingpin, Kaviraj Singh, and three officials of Meerut’s Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU), including one staffer and two contractual employees, have been arrested. Another accomplice, CP Singh, a former employee of the university, is still at large.

According to STF sleuths, Singh pulled off the scam in connivance with Pavan Kumar, in charge of answer sheet evaluation department of the university, and two other contractual employees – Kapil Kumar and Sandeep. He used to charge Rs 1-1.5 lakh from medical students and Rs 30,000-40,000 from students of other professional courses at the university.

“Over 600 non-meritorious students became doctors through the racket. A case has been registered at the local police station and the probe should ideally involve tracking down these students who used unfair means to pass the examination,” STF inspector general Amitabh Yash said.

Adding that there was no documented record of such students, the IG said, “It would be an onerous task to bring every defaulter to justice. Now, the ball is in the court of the local police.”

The arrests have caught the university administration off guard.

Vice-chancellor Narendra Kumar Taneja told TOI, “We have already expelled the two contractual employees while Pavan Kumar has been suspended. We have been extending all support to the law-enforcing agencies in the case and would continue to do it.”

It was also revealed that the gang used to procure blank answer sheets from colleges affiliated to the university. “Their modus operandi was innovative. They used to solve the question paper in one of the blank answer sheets and replace it with the original copy in connivance with officials of the answer sheet evaluation department where all the exam copies were deposited,” a STF sleuth said.

There are more than 350 government government-aided and private institutions affiliated to CCSU.

