Tamil Nadu   

Scanner used to smuggle question paper

S. Vijay Kumar

Answers to 300 questions within an hour

MADURAI: A high-resolution portable scanner was used to smuggle out the question paper of the postgraduate medical entrance examination conducted by the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Chennai on January 8.

Sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told The Hindu that two doctors used an imported Docupen R700 version scanner made by Planon Systems Solutions Inc, U.S., to scan the question paper soon after it was distributed at the Asan Memorial School and the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai.

The 8.5-inch long scanner with a storage capacity of 100 pages was passed on to another suspect who took it to a nearby hotel where senior doctors downloaded the question paper into a laptop. Within an hour, answers to all the 300 questions were sent to "beneficiaries" through short messaging service (SMS).

"The Docupen can create highly accurate scanned output using its optical timing and registration system. The battery-operated gadget that looks like a pen takes just 4-5 seconds to scan one page. The duration of the examination was three-and-a-half hours," an investigator said.

Describing the offence as the first of its kind, the official said the scanner was a two-year-old concept and that the accused (doctors) might have used it during the earlier examinations (of AIIMS) as well. "This was a commercial venture involving senior doctors, including some professors. Though the prime suspects made huge money, the doctors who actually answered the questions were provided conveyance, lunch and tea in the hotel room."

While the Docupen used to commit the offence was destroyed, the CBI used another model with which the suspects demonstrated how they scanned the question paper. "It is possible that the same `modus operandi' might have been applied in other parts of the country. The cue to use the technology came from a popular movie," the official said.

Based on confessions made by P. Satish Kumar, a medico of Madurai Medical College, the agency was closing in on more suspects in the case, the sources said.

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