 "Telangana government orders re-test for medical seat admissions")
The relaxation given to states for conducting own entrance test for admissions in medical colleges for this year by the Centre proved costly for thousands of candidates in Telangana as the state government on Tuesday formally announced a re-test for them owing to the leakage of question paper.
The state government said a Delhi-based racket that was involved in similar scams across India was behind the leakage of paper 2 of Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) conducted on July 9.
Telangana Criminal Investigation Department(CID) has quickly established the leakage and modus operandi besides arresting some of the accused after registering a case on July 25.
Soon after the results were announced on July 14, some parents approached a minister suspecting a possible mischief behind the drastic improvement in ranks secured by some candidates in Telangana EAMCET as compared to the 5-digit ranks scored by the same set of candidates in Andhra Pradesh EAMCET held earlier.
The police named Mukul Jain, Mayank Sarma, Sunil Singh and Irfan as the key accused in the leakage of question paper besides establishing the involvement of 34 people who acted as brokers between the willing parents and the key accused in sharing the leaked papers for a price that ran as high as Rs 40 to Rs 50 lakh per candidate.
Some of the brokers were found to be the accused in a similar question paper leakage scam detected in Andhra Pradesh in 2014. Police so far arrested 6 people involved in the latest case.
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The willing parents considered 'the price' quoted by the brokers still reasonable as the private medical colleges charge Rs 1 crore and beyond for admissions under the management quota seats, according to the reports. A higher rank in EAMCET not only guarantees a seat in good medical college but also ensures admission within the Convenor quota that requires the students to pay only the government determined fee.
About 51,000 candidates had appeared for EAMCET medical stream held for 2650 MBBS and BDS seats in Telangana. The police investigation so far revealed the collusion of parents of around 200 candidates, who allegedly benefited from the leakage of question paper.
Earlier in the day the High Court of judicature in Hyderabad asked for the stand of the government while dealing with a public interest litigation(PIL) filed by a parent seeking the cancellation of EAMCET. Appearing before the bench the government advocate general not only admitted that the leakage of the entrance test paper proved beyond any doubt but also informed the government's intent to re-conduct the test for medical seats.
Investigation revealed that the question papers were stolen from a printing press in Delhi and were distributed among the brokers who in turn approached the parents. After taking the initial advance from the willing parents these brokers took students to secret locations outside the state, including places like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Kanigiri (Andhra Pradesh). The brokers then gave the leaked question papers along with answers to students and brought them back to Hyderabad just a day before the entrance test after reportedly subjecting them to intense training.
Meanwhile, Chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao instructed the officials to allow the candidates to appear for the test using their previous hall tickets without any additional fee. He directed the police to take action against the parents who had colluded with the accused in the questionn paper leakage.