The investigations into the answer-script tampering scam in the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) took close to 10 months and scrutinising close to 490 answer sheets to find the ones that had been tampered with.
The police found a total of 32 answer scripts belonging to 10 students, and realised that the scam was not limited to postgraduate (PG) exams, but also involved undergraduate medical students.
Investigations have revealed that Bhagirath Singh, the paying guest accommodation owner who was the kingpin of the racket, would be contacted by the students who would want to get maximum marks, in exchange for Rs. 2 to Rs. 2.5 lakh per subject, a few months before the exams. PG students wrote four papers, which meant paying Rs. 10 lakh to pass the exam that year. Students would appear for the exam as usual, but would leave some sheets blank. The paper would often have a ‘code’, such as a star, for a particular answer.
According to RGUHS rules, answer scripts of exams written in Bengaluru colleges had to reach the university within two hours after the exam, but it usually took up to six hours. From other districts, they had to reach the university within 24 hours, though it often took up to 48 hours.
‘Admission Singh’, as Singh was popularly known, would get the blank answer sheets in advance for Rs. 10,000 per sheet from his contacts and give it to his clients, who would then fill the rights answer sitting in hotel or at their homes. The answer scripts would then be sent to Shankare Gowda, former Assistant Registrar (Post-evaluation), who would note the answer sheets with a code and replace the blank answer sheet with the ones with correct answers. These papers were then sent to the evaluation centres.
It was an anonymous phone call that tipped off the Vice-Chancellor of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) about the racket. A 10-member committee was set up to probe into the allegations, which found that the answer sheets had actually been tampered with. Although the first page of the answer sheet remained intact, officials observed that a triangular punch hole on answer sheets often did not match.
Based on the findings of the committee, a complaint was filed with at the Tilaknagar police in July last year. A few months later, the case was handed over to the Central Crime Branch (CCB).
The CCB then arrested Dhananjaya and his associate V. Sridhar, both employees of Mysore Medical College and Research Institute. Questioning led to the arrest of Bhagirath Singh and three senior varsity officials, said M. Chandrashekhar, Joint Commissioner of Police.
He said the police suspect many others to be involved and investigations were on to ascertain their role. “We are not sure about how old the scam is. Last year was not the first time. However, we cannot go any further back as the RGUHS destroys answer sheets within six to eight months of the exams,” the officer said.
