Chandigarh, November 11
A day after the CBI unearthed the cheating racket in the PGI’s entrance exam for MD course, the central agency today stumbled upon stunning information that none of the seven candidates arrested for cheating possessed an MBBS degree, a pre-requisite for appearing in the entrance exam.

It has been revealed that all the candidates had furnished bogus MBBS degree certificates.

CBI officials said that not even one candidate had medical background. Their qualifications were being verified. Interestingly, two girls out of seven are matriculates and one of the girls has a B Tech degree.

The Central agency has also sought the records of the certificates submitted by the candidates. The documents recovered by the investigating agency point towards some male candidates also appearing for the entrance exam and using sophisticated gadgets for cheating.

Confirming the development, CBI DIG Mahesh Aggarwal said that none of the candidates had MBBS degree and they had submitted fake certificates for admission. “The MBBS certificates submitted by the candidates are from an institute in Andhra Pradesh”, the DIG said.

The investigation has revealed that the candidates had struck a deal of Rs 30 to Rs 40 lakhs with one P Guirivi Reddy, the kingpin of the cheating racket, for getting the entrance exam cleared. The candidates had already paid half the amount to him.

Reddy was among the seven persons arrested by the CBI from a Sector 35 hotel yesterday.

The identity of the candidates is also under scanner as CBI sleuths are suspecting that the candidates might have changed their names.

The CBI has also started a parallel investigation to establish the source from where fake certificates were procured.

A similar scam concerning submission of fake certificates was exposed by the CBI in 2010. A case of forgery was registered against 11 students of Punjab Engineering College (PEC), who took admission in the college on the basis of forged Nepalese identity cards under a scheme meant for enrolling foreign students and NRIs. PGI’s official spokesperson Manju Wadwalkar said original certificates of the candidates clearing the entrance exam are scrutinised at the time of admission. “The students submit photocopies of their certificates which are verified at the time of admission”, she said.