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Marks For Money Scandal Rocks Anna University, Ten Professors Arrested By Anti-Corruption Wing
Anna University. (Sivahari via Wikimedia Commons)
In a major scandal that may cause a huge dent to its reputation as one of India’s premier technical institution, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has unearthed a racket of academicians in the Anna University, The Hindu has reported.
The scandal reportedly involves a former controller of examinations, who allegedly took bribes from a large number of engineering students for granting them extra marks as part of reevaluation of their answer scripts.
The DVAC has filed a criminal case against former Controller of Examination G V Uma, Tindivanam zonal officers and assistant professors P Vijayakumar and Sivakumar, and seven others on charges of “conspiracy, cheating and forgery”.
The department conducted surprise searches on the premises of the suspects and seized several incriminating documents, including copies of answer sheets as well as property documents. It swung into action after it received a tip-off from ‘credible sources’ that the accused took bribes from engineering students, who had appeared for exams in 2017, and had awarded them “excess marks” during re-evaluation.
The students had allegedly paid bribes of Rs 10,000 for each re-evaluated paper in 2017 and the accused forged their answer sheets and inflated their marks.
According to the DVAC, the modus operandi of the accused included destroying a large number of answer scripts without following the due procedures in a clear attempt to eliminate evidence.
An engineering student who fails in the examination is contacted by agents who communicate to the students to apply for a re-evaluation.
According to this TOI report, 12 lakh students appear for the university’s semester exams every year and in April-May 2017, over 3 lakh students applied for re-evaluation. 90,000 of those who applied for the re-valuation got higher marks after the exercise.
Uma, who works in the Information Technology department of the university after her three year tenure as Controller of Examination ended, has been suspended by the Vice Chancellor M. K Surappa.
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