M A I N   N E W S

PGI ENTRANCE TEST ROW
Key accused in MD exam racket identified
Amit Sharma & Ritika Jha Palial/TNS

Chandigarh, November 12
The police has identified K Gangadhar Reddy, a 33-year-old man arrested from Bihar, as one of the accused who provided PGI entrance exam answers to the gang of cheaters that was busted in Chandigarh recently.

Gangadhar, who claims himself to be a doctor, was arrested in Patna almost at the same time while the raids were going on in Chandigarh. He was brought to the city on a transit remand today and produced before the Duty Magistrate who remanded him till November 19. The investigating agencies believe that Gangadhar’s interrogation may blow the lid off a much larger racket and lead to more arrests in the case.

According to CBI counsel PK Dogra, preliminary investigations have revealed that Gangadhar was pursuing MD from a Nellor-based medical institute in Andhra Pradesh. He was supposed to dictate answers back to P Guirivi Reddy, who had set up a control room at a hotel in Sector 35, Chandigarh.

Guirivi had planted seven girls, who were arrested from different examination centres, to leak the question paper through button-hole cameras fitted in their clothes. It was later found that none of the arrested girls was an MBBS. They were well trained in the use of sophisticated devices used to leak the question paper. The paper was leaked to Guirivi Reddy who then forwarded it to subject experts in Patna and Ahmedabad. The subject experts sent back answers to the control room in Chandigarh.

CBI officials said Gangadhar was suspected to have acted as a link between other accused involved in the racket and Guirivi Reddy.

A team of CBI officials had followed a group of accused from Delhi to Chandigarh following a tip-off from Andhra Pradesh. These officials booked a room in the same hotel in Sector 35 from where seven youths were arrested.

The investigation has also revealed that the hi-tech gadgets used for cheating were purchased from Delhi. During raids, about 25 sophisticated mobile phones were seized along with SIM cards. The CBI is now verifying on whose ID these SIM cards were purchased.

Kin in shock

The arrest of the 15 youths in connection with the PGI cheating scam has left their parents and relatives in a state of shock. Unable to reach their children, as they are in police custody and their cellphones have been seized by the CBI, their parents have been spending sleepless nights.

Perplexed maternal uncle of Jagdishan, one of the seven men held from a hotel in Sector 35, said, "He (Jagdishan) had told us that he was going on a tour with his friends for a few days. It was only today that we came to know that he, along with his friends, has been arrested by the CBI."