The police will begin questioning 80 students from Thursday in connection with the alleged answer sheet tampering racket at Mumbai University that was busted last week in Bhandup. The police, who seized 92 answer sheets that were smuggled out of MU to be modified by the candidates before evaluation, had asked the university to provide details of the seat numbers on the seized answer sheets. On May 20, police had arrested eight non-teaching MU staffers for their involvement in the racket.
“The MU responded to our query on Wednesday with the names and details of 80 students. As we have seized a total of 97 answer sheets, this indicates that several students paid the accused to sneak out answer sheets of more than one subject,” an officer with Bhandup police station said.
Police said questioning the students would lead to more details of the racket. “We need to find out how students approached the accused, or how the accused made it known to students that answer sheets could be provided in exchange for money. Several persons not employed with MU are believed to have acted as middlemen in the racket. We have already interrogated the arrested accused in connection with this, and the students’ questioning will help verify the accused’s versions,” an officer said.
As the students willingly participated in the racket, they are likely to face action under the Maharashtra Protection of Malpractices at Universities and Other Specified Board Examination Act. The police are also trying to trace and apprehend two more MU staff members who allegedly played a part in smuggling the answer sheets in and out.
The lid was blown off the racket when police received a tip-off that an Engineering exam answer sheet, which had been taken out and filled in with additional answers, was going to be returned to MU by a Bhandup resident. The accused was arrested in Bhandup and his interrogation led to the arrests of the other seven accused.
