UGC officer involved in major question leaks

The Rapid Action Battalion yesterday arrested three people including an assistant director of the University Grants Commission (UGC) for their alleged involvement in leaking questions of different competitive exams including the medical college admission test.

The force seized two question papers and 23 answer sheets of the Assistant Judge Recruitment Test of Judicial Service Commission 2014, Tk 2 lakh in cash, a Tk 4 lakh cheque, cheque books of different banks, three mobiles, and an iPad from them after raiding UGC's office at the capital's Agargaon.

The arrestees are Assistant Director of UGC Omar Siraj, his accomplice Ishan Imtiaj Hridoy, and storekeeper of Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission Rezaul Karim.

UGC suspended Siraj following his arrest but said in a release, "There is no[t] any involvement of UGC with the functions of [the] admission test of medical college[s]."

Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of Rab's legal and media wing, told The Daily Star that they were investigating if the questions of yesterday's medical college admission exam were leaked.

All three were arrested at the UGC office.

Rab said on primary interrogation the "kingpin" of the syndicate, Omar, admitted supplying answers to questions in the tests for medical college admission and recruitment of Bangladesh Krishi Bank officers and assistant judges.  

The syndicate brings out question papers from exam halls recruiting fake candidates, Rab officials said.

"Once they succeed, experts solve the questions in a very short time," said Mahmud, adding that the answers were then sent to examinees through sophisticated electronic devices.

According to Rab, examinees who have contracts with Rezaul secretly brings out the original answer sheets from the hall, and the syndicate then writes answers on them.

In a later period, Rezaul with the help of  Nazim, personal officer of the comptroller, replaces the fake answer sheet submitted in the hall with the original one prepared by the syndicate.

Rab also seized prepared answer sheets of the assistant judge recruitment test from Omar's house.

Rab officials said the syndicate took from each candidate Tk 15 lakh for the medical college admission test, Tk 6 lakh for the Bangladesh Krishi Bank officer recruitment test and Tk 10 lakh for the assistant judge recruitment exam.

Contacted, UGC officials declined to talk about the issue.

However, one official said they had heard about Siraj's involvement in illegal activities but could not believe that.

Meanwhile, a mobile court sentenced four persons to one year in jail each for impersonating other candidates in the recruitment test of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank yesterday.