Industrious Cheats Caught in Midnight Raid
  
 
Gulbarga, Jun 24 (DHNS) : BEd students were burning the midnight oil at a college on Tuesday. But there was a catch. They were not studying. They were ''writing'' answer scripts for an exam that had already been concluded, when the police, tipped off about the ''overdiligent'' students, raided the Indira Gandhi Memorial BEd College at Jelanabad here, just past midnight. 

 
Apparently, the college had not deposited the answer scripts of the papers for which examinations were held from June 18 to 22, in order to enable certain students write the examinations clandestinely with the intention of ensuring that they pass.

The racket appears to be deep-rooted with the police suspecting the collusion of the university examination department officials. Police Inspector Mallikarjun Bande said  26 students—20 from Uttar Pradesh, two from Bihar, one from Madhya Pradesh and three from Gulbarga—have been arrested. They are being remanded in judicial custody.

Criminal cases have been filed against others, including  college principal Mohammed Moulana, the chairman of the Mehboob Subhani Charitable Trust which runs the BEd College, Registrar (Evaluation) of Gulbarga University, invigilators, internal and external squad and others. The principal and office-bearers of the Trust are absconding.

Apart from the BEd college with an intake of 100 students, the institution also runs a DEd college, arts and science degree college, PU college and a high school.

Meticulous verification

“We are verifying all the papers and documents before making further arrests. Since it is a serious case, we have to do our job meticulously,” said Inspector Bande.

Police said the racket was well organised, involving students from outside Karnataka who were keen on securing BEd certificates at any cost. They would come to the college on only two occasions —once for admission and for writing the “open examination” with an assurance from the management to get them degrees.

The police have also seized Rs 1.07 lakh, 19 mobile phones, three motorbikes, answer scripts, photocopies of question papers and other materials from the hostel attached to the college where they were writing the papers.

The raid on a tip-off was conducted  by a police team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police “A” Division Madhuraveena.

Cases have been registered under a number of sections of IPC, including 420, 419, 120 (B), and investigations are on.