New Delhi : The Supreme Court will hear, on May 21, a petition seeking re-conduct of the All India Pre-Medical Entrance Test (AIPMT) as the key to the answers was leaked in several states and was made available to some candidates using sophisticated technology.
The vacation bench of Justice A.K.Sikri and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit on Monday said that they would hear the matter Thursday as counsel Prashant Bhushan and Gopal Jain mentioned the matter for an early hearing.
The court was told that if the examination is not re-conducted then many non-deserving candidates would succeed at the expense of meritorious and deserving candidates. The petition said that answer keys were sold at heavy price and the entire matter has inter-state dimensions with people involved in it operating in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The petition by Tanvi Sarwal said that the court was being moved in public interest to protect the interests of over 6 lakh candidates who appeared for the AIPMT 2015 as media reports suggest that there had been “large scale fraudulent and corrupt practices” in the conduct of the examination. The reports being referred to appeared in media on May 5 – a day after the examination.
It said that answer keys of 90 questions were leaked to the candidates appearing in the examinations by private persons for monetary consideration to the tune of Rs.15-20 lakh.
“Nine such candidates have been identified and raids are going on by police to unearth all who are involved,” said Sarwal in the petition.
The investigation by Haryana Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) has revealed that the “the gang used sophisticated electronic gadgets for carrying out the alleged transmission of answer keys to the candidates”.
“There were specially designed jackets and vests purchased from Delhi which contained SIM cards and Bluetooth ear pieces” and according to police the “modus operandi of the gang resembles the one adopted in the alleged leaking of the AIIMS PG entrance exam paper in 2012”.
The petition referred to Haryana Police saying that the “arrested were also involved in earlier leaks of AIIMS PG entrance paper and State Bank of India recruitment test paper”.