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Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) along with the Mumbai Police has unearthed a racket that used unethical practices to secure admission for MBA courses in prestigious management institutes of the country.
NMIMS had lodged a complaint with Joint Commissioner of Police, Mumbai regarding impersonation cases observed during NMIMS Management Aptitude Test (NMAT) 2013. This is a national level MBA entrance test and was conducted from October 11, 2012 to December 19, 2012.
Post the test, during the admission process, the admission department discovered discrepancy between the photograph taken at the time of writing the NMAT and the photographs on the Personal Interview application form of a few students.
After they checked into the details, it was found that about 87 candidates in the final merit list had committed forgery in securing admission. “Our research also showed that there are at least 6 individuals who have impersonated for as many as 87 or more students across the country. Most of these students are with high scores of 220 and above,” said NMIMS in a statement. The NMIMS statement further said that all admissions to the institute are merit based.
A press note from the Mumbai Police revealed that the accused had promised one student of securing him passing marks in NMAT Exam through Management Quota and quoted Rs 15 lakhs for the same.
Thereafter the accused person took Rs 7.5 lakhs as advance and told the student not to appear for the written examination and that they would manage from inside. The police said that the accused person employed ‘dummy’ for the student who gave the exam by impersonating the candidate.
Later, the accused person informed the student that he has passed NMAT exam and has been short listed for Group Discussion and Interview. The arrested accused informed the student to pay the remaining Rs. 7.5 lakhs which was paid immediately.
“Preliminary investigation has revealed that such malpractices are also rampant in prestigious Institutes based all over India in the field of MBA, Medical, Engineering etc. through Education Consultancy firms, Coaching Classes etc. which have mushroomed all over India. One such institute i.e. Career Guardian, Ghaziabad, U.P. and Meta Consultancy, Delhi are found involved in such malpractices,” said Mumbai Police in a press note.
The police have also found forged documents including Aadhaar Card, Pan Card, and Election Card in the name of students for appearing as ‘dummy’.
