Bengaluru: Second year students of Dayanand Sagar College of Dental Sciences in Bengaluru who allegedly resorted to mass copying, were caught red-handed on Tuesday by a flying squad invigilator appointed by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).
To make matters worse, the flying squad invigilator, Dr Kiran, who brought this matter to the notice of Dr Shanmugappa, examination chief of RGUHS, was suspended from flying squad duty on Tuesday after the incident prompted him to bring it to the public domain. After a section of the media reported the mass copying, varsity officials called for a meeting and ordered an inquiry into the matter and prima facie found fault with the college management. The varsity officials soon reinstated Dr Kiran on flying squad duty on Thursday.
“I was doing my duty and was given a specific route to keep a vigil on dental colleges that had BDS exams on Tuesday. We end up visiting colleges on the route if we get suspicious or are given tip-offs on malpractices during examinations,” said Dr Kiran, who works as a medical faculty in BGS Global Institute of Medical Sciences.
“I noticed that male students were frequently entering a women’s restroom and using it which raised my suspicion. I switched on my phone camera and went inside the restroom only to find guides and textbooks kept under a bucket,” said Dr Kiran. “I brought this to the notice of the invigilator, the principal and the examination chief, Shanmugappa, but they all told me that the exam was being supervised by the chief superintendent who is also the principal of the college,” he added.
There were CCTV footage recording in which students were seen going in and coming out of the examination hall taking breaks which is against the varsity rules, alleged Dr Kiran who added everything was evident in the one-hour footage handed over by the college management to the varsity which is conducting an inquiry. “The examination chief maintained that the varsity Vice Chancellor and the Registrar were not apprised of the development as I had flouted varsity rules by recording the malpractices on my phone,” he said.
“We have formed a three-member committee headed by S Sacchidanand, registrar (evaluation) of RGUHS to conduct an inquiry as per Dr. Kiran’s allegations – where he claimed the students were taking breaks going to toilet rooms where they had kept copy-chits and students had indulged in mass malpractice,” said KS Ravindranath, VC of RGUHS. “The inquiry is on, we are checking the CCTV footage of exam halls at the college and once we get the report from the committee, we will disclose the next course of action.” The committee is likely to submit its report to the VC on Friday, sources from RGUHS told Deccan Chronicle.
