Racket involved in MDCAT paper leak

LAHORE: An alleged racket of University of Health Sciences (UHS) officials and academics involved in the leak of Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) 2017 paper has been identified, The News has learnt.

The racket comprising employees of UHS, doctors, academics and others have been exposed by Additional Inspector General (Addl IG) Commandant Punjab Constabulary Hussain Asghar-led inquiry team which proved that MDCAT 2017 paper was leaked.

Hassan Bhatti, Evaluation/Monitoring Office, Tauseef Iqbal, Naib Qasid, Mian Kashif Imran (husband of Saima Tabbasum, UHS Deputy Controller of Examination), Dr Haider Jatoi, Dr Inam, Anas Rehman, etc, have been arrested, sources said, adding, earlier, an accused, Abdul Haseeb, of ‘Star Academy’ was also arrested for posting information about leakage of MDCAT paper through his Facebook account titled “Ya mbbs ha mamu”.

Taking notice of the alleged leak of the paper, the chief minister initially formed a high-level six-member committee on August 22, 2017 to probe the alleged leak of MDCAT paper which found that no paper was leaked during the examination. Then the CM formed another committee led by the Addl IG.

Sources said negligence on the part of two top officials of the UHS has been proved in the latest probe. Sources said the inquiry team through Call Data Records (CDRs) found that one of the top officials remained in contacts with some of the arrested accused persons prior to the conduct of the paper dated August 22, 2017.

Soon after the initial probe of Hussain Asghar, Punjab government sent the UHS vice chancellor on forced leave and his role in the alleged leak would also be investigated further. Moreover, it is also learnt that a paper of a MBBS class, prepared by the UHS, was also leaked a few years back and characters involved in that leak helped a lot in tracing this leak also.

Describing the racket’s modus operandi, sources stated that the accused doctors/academics would identify influential candidates from different districts in Punjab and promise them success in the entry test against a hefty amount starting from Rs two to Rs three million each.

It is further pointed out that the accused even promised to change candidates’ solved sheets of the paper for a heavy amount. Talking to The News on Thursday, Hussain Asghar said negligence on the part of the two to officials the UHS has been proved.

“Further probe would suggest whether that negligence was for material gains or not, he maintained. “We have arrested over a dozen people so far who are in police custody,” he said, adding now police would further investigate if the UHS management had any role in the paper leak. To a question, the senior police officer said they got the lead in the probe after meeting with the candidates, who appeared for medical test, and their parents.

On the other hand, sources told The News that statements of Muhammad Younas, Adil Khaliq (Co-owner Stars Academy), Salman Maqsood (MD KIPS) and Muhammad Tahir Iqbal (Director Star Academy) and Abdul Hafeez, (Franchise Star Academy Rahim Yar Khan) were also recorded during the investigation.

No UHS official was willing to speak on record and all attempts to contact the VC and controller failed. However, a UHS official, seeking anonymity, confirmed that the VC had gone on leave for the last few days. About the role of VC and Controller, the official added that they had nothing to do with the MDCAT paper leak as a separate independent cell was working since 2015 for the purpose.