Engg scam: A year on, trial yet to start

Students whose answer sheets were smuggled out of the MU’S store room in Kalina will be made witnesses

Almost a year after a cheating scam rocked University of Mumbai (MU) and 10 months after a charge sheet was filed, the trial of 18 men who were arrested for allegedly tampering with engineering exam papers is yet to begin.

These men include MU employees — a security supervisor, peons and clerks — agents and former students who wanted to make easy money.

The police said that the students whose answer sheets were smuggled out of the store room at Kalina would be made witnesses.

“We recovered 100 answer sheets and Rs1.18 lakh in the scam,” said Shripad Kale, senior police inspector, Bhandup police station.

According to the police, the student were asked by agents to leave blank spaces in their answer sheets to be filled in later.

After getting hall ticket numbers, the MU employees would smuggle out answer sheets for respective students. After writing the answers, the students handed the sheets back to the MU employees, who took them back to the university’s store room at Kalina.

The first arrest was made on May 20 last year when a team of the Mumbai police picked up Manoj Shingade, 22, a student who was found in possession of an engineering exam answer sheet. The police detained and frisked him in front of two independent witnesses. His interrogation led to the other suspects.

The exam was held nine days before he was picked up. The answer sheet contained all details such as the candidate’s seat number and date stamp. Shingade was allegedly smuggling the modified answer sheet back to the university.

The police questioned several students and university staff. The scam exposed the nexus between agents and university staff who would scout for vulnerable students, mostly with allowed to keep term. “Students feared that they may lose an entire year and hence fell in to the trap. Students used to approach agent through word of mouth. The agents would brag about their ability to ensure that students would not fail,” said Kale.

Even the prices were decided on the capability of students to pay up. Students paid from Rs2,000 to Rs15,000. If there were agents involved in a particular deal, the MU employees earned less, police said.

The police, however, did not name students whose answer sheets were found as accused.

The police had to be careful in handling the case as students were directly involved. Investigations also pointed out that staff were hired on a contract basis and were paid relatively low wages.