LAHORE :The six-member inquiry committee formed by the chief minister to probe into alleged leak of Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) 2017 paper has found that no question paper was leaked during the examination, The News has learnt.
Sources, privy to the developments, told this correspondent that the six-member inquiry committee had submitted its report to the CM a few days back.
Taking notice of the alleged leak of MDCAT paper, the chief minister had formed a high-level six-member committee on August 22, 2017 to probe the alleged leak of MDCAT paper of 2017 and sought their report within 72 hours.
Additional Chief Secretary was the convener while Additional IG (Special Branch), Prof Dr Eice Muhammad, FIA Director Punjab, Punjab Forensic Science Agency DG and CMIT member were included in the committee. Furthermore, sources, privy to meetings held at Civil Secretariat, told The News that during earlier meetings of the committee, the CM had also sought opinion of the members about retaking the MDCAT paper which majority of them opposed.
“If we retake the MDCAT paper it would open a new Pandora's Box for the future exams as anyone could come and plead for the retaking of the paper mere on the ground being a tough or difficult one to attempt. Our education system would also suffer if we do that, “sources quoting committee members further told.
A similar suggestion to retake only the paper of Physics was also turned down on the grounds that as no paper was leaked at any stage/time there was no need for any such exercise.
However, it is further learnt that the CM has ordered a separate inquiry to be conducted on the security system of the UHS to improve the lapses/errors, if any, for fairness of the whole process. It may be relevant to mention here that UHS had conducted Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) on August 20, 2017 in which thousands of students from across Punjab participated. After a few days of the test, issue of paper leak emerged and aspirant students took to streets and protested against the provincial administration, particularly against the UHS administration for the alleged leakage of the paper. Students had also demanded retake of the examination.
While the matter was in progress, FIA Lahore had received a complaint from Prof Dr Junaid Sarfraz Khan, Vice-Chancellor (UHS)/Chairman Admission Board, Punjab, Lahore through the Project Director NR3C, FIA, Islamabad.
The VC alleged that the user of a Facebook account “Ya mbbs ha mamu” was trying to malign credibility of University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore by spreading false and misleading concocted stories of medical colleges admission test paper leakage. He alleged that the admin of this Facebook account uploaded a retyped paper of UHS test on 20th of August, 2017 at 4:28PM, claiming that the paper was leaked a night before.
It is pertinent to mention here that the test concluded at 12PM noon on 20th of August.
The admin of the subject user account tried to portray that the paper had been leaked by a tuition academy. The VC had complained that the Facebook account was creating unrest among the students; therefore, strict actions should be taken against the accused persons.
During probe of the matter, FIA conducted technical analysis regarding the Facebook account titled “Ya mbbs ha mamu” and it was observed that scanned images of Physics (MDCAT) 2017 paper was uploaded, mentioning name of one Prof Abdul Haseeb of an academy.
FIA analysed that the uploaded pictures contain questions and diagrams which had been hand-drawn to deceive and mislead the students. On being summoned, the accused Prof Abdul Haseeb joined the proceedings and recorded his statement to FIA. He disclosed to the investigators that on 20th of August, 2017 at about 3PM he had uploaded solved paper through his Facebook account “Abdul Haseeb” as his students had complained that Physics portion of the paper was a difficult one.
I did this so that students could tally their answers for the publicity of my institute, he told FIA. Thereafter, his solved paper was shared by a group on Facebook namely “Ye mbbs ha mamu”, mentioning that this paper was leaked out before the commencement of the paper on August 20, an FIR registered by the FIA reads.
“During preliminary probe of the matter, it has been found that the reproduced paper of UHS was uploaded by the accused Abdul Haseeb through his own Facebook account being valuable information,” it further reads.
According to the FIR, this created unrest and misled thousands of students who appeared for MDCAT, 2017 examination. The accused Abdul Haseeb has committed offences u/s 13, 14 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (PECA) 2016 R/W 420, 468, 471 and 109 of the PPC. Similarly, the role of others, if any, will be determined during the course of investigation.
These offences could lead Haseeb to a jail term from six months to three years besides a fine of thousands of rupees as well. FIA has arrested Haseeb and obtained his physical remand to probe further.
