Bhandup police say the University of Mumbai staffers stole the engineering answersheets from the hall and gave them to students to fill overnight and return the next day
The police busted a huge examination racket at the University of Mumbai in Kalina on Friday after it arrested a group of staffers, who leaked exam answersheets for engineering degree courses and gave them to students.
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The accused staffers from University of Mumbai being taken into police custody on Saturday. Pic/Rajesh Gupta
The police have arrested security guards Mithun More (28), Chiman Solanki (41), Sanjay Kumbhar (21) and Dinkar Mhatre (34), clerks Sandeep Jadhav (28), Rehan More (25) and Siddhesh Jadhavn (26), and custodian of the answersheets, Prabhakar Vaze (40). The arrests took place after a police constable from Bhandup police station received a tip-off about a 22-year-old engineering student Manoj Shingade, who had been found with a leaked answersheet.
According to the police, the racket has been ongoing for two years. Students, who usually had a problem tackling a particular subject, first approached an agent. The going rate for each paper is anywhere between Rs 20,000-30,000.
On examination day, the students were told to leave enough space to fill in the answers later. The student would then take a picture of the answersheet and send it to the agent on WhatsApp. The agent would later forward the image to the clerks and guards. They, in-turn, informed Vaze, who would then remove the papers from the pile. “The student would get an entire night to write the answers, before returning it to the agent the next day,” a police officer said.
The police have recovered around 92 answersheets from the accused. The answersheets were from different engineering colleges in Karjat, Kharghar, Airoli, Kamothe and Navi Mumbai, which are affiliated to the university.
The accused were remanded to police custody on Saturday. “All the accused have been charged under sections 420, 408, 406 and 34 of the IPC for cheating and criminal breach of trust by a public servant. They have also been booked under relevant sections of the Maharashtra Protection of Malpractice Act University and Other Specified Board Examination Act of 1982.”
Several students are also involved in the racket, and the police will be arresting them soon, an officer said.
“Once we have the police investigation report, a meeting will be called. Legal action will be taken against those found guilty,” said Deepak Vasave, in-charge Controller of Examination at the Mumbai University.
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