Days after a scam involving tampering of answer sheets came to light, Mumbai University (MU) officials said the online evaluation of answer sheets ensured that evaluators did not sense anything amiss or raise an alarm while checking them. Eight university staffers were arrested after the scam, in which answer sheets were smuggled out before evaluation so candidates could modify them, was exposed on May 20. Police suspect the racket began operating three years ago.
Campus security
Meanwhile, a team of Israeli security experts will arrive in Mumbai next week to work with Mumbai University (MU) on enhancing campus security. Presently, internal security is being taken care of by local agency Tiger Security Services.
“Israel is known to have the best security agencies in the world. We share a long-standing association with Israel and have signed several MoUs with them over the years,” Mr Bansod said. He added that access control software, intrusion detection software, CCTV cameras and electronic surveillance are some of the upgrades being considered.
Speaking to The Hindu on Tuesday, varsity officials said hard copies of the answer sheets were handled only by the staff. Leeladhar Bansod, Deputy Registrar PR, MU, said there was no way evaluators could have had any clue about the tampering. “Clerks collect answer sheets from the exam centres, keep them in a storeroom on the ground floor of the examination house on the Kalina campus, and transfer them to the online assessment room on the fourth floor within 24 hours. Evaluators only get to see them (the answer sheets) online, which could be in their office or home,” he explained. The answer sheets were apparently smuggled out in this short period before they went online.
On May 20, eight MU employees including the custodian of answer sheets, Prabhakar Vaze, were arrested by police for running the racket. Police said the accused used agents to get the stolen answer sheets to students and charged them Rs 15,000 to 20,000 for each answer sheet.
92 answer sheets
In all, 92 answer sheets of the Applied Mathematics exam conducted on May 11 were seized by the police. Since then, the varsity has transferred 69 employees, both permanent and temporary, working in the Centralized Assessment Process unit of its examination house.
Mr Bansod said the answer sheets of all 92 students will be declared null and void if they are found guilty in the ongoing police investigation and a Board of Action Committee will be formed to determine the quantum of punishment for these students. The writer is an intern with The Hindu
