Candidates paid ` 57 lakh to Vyapam officials: CBI
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s Vyapam scam probe is verifying allegations that a group of racketeers, comprising private middlemen who had access to some then Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) officials, had extorted ` 57 lakh each from six candidates for favours aimed at manipulating their success in a state 2012 prepost graduate medical examination.
The probe has indicated that the racketeers, who specialised in manipulating results in state examinations conducted admissions to professional courses and recruitments, allegedly used a slew of manipulations to favour to applicants for a lucrative price, said a CBI source. “The manipulations included illegally passing on copies of model answer sheets, procured from a few then Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) officials who collaborated and benefited from them monetarily, to select candidates and getting roll numbers and centres of examinations allotted as per their convenience,” said the source.
“We are examining allega- tions that six candidates had paid around ` 57 lakh each to members of the racket, including the owner of a private medical college and his aide, to get help in scoring good marks in state medical entrance examination in 2012,” said the source. “The six students were provided access to photocopies of model answer sheets that were procured illegally,” said the sources.
“It was alleged that later, the copies of the model answer sheets were directly sold to another group of four students too, at a price of around ` 30 lakh each, by a set of then Vyapam officials ” said the source.