Saturday, March 24, 2018

Cops begin probing theft of Madras univ answer sheets

TIMES NEWS NETWORK   24.03.2018

Chennai: The city police have begun a probeintothetheft of answer scripts from University of Madras. The university had filed a complaint two weeks ago saying answer scripts pertaining totheInstitute of Distance Education (IDE) department had been stolen from the first and second floor of the centenary auditorium on the Chepauk campus.

The Anna Square police conducted a preliminary inquiry and collected details from the Registrar and Controller of Examinations (incharge) two days ago, police sourcessaid. Information collected by the university through an internal inquiry was also handed over to the police. The papers were found missing on February 26 and itwas reportedtotheuniversity authorities on March 1. The theft’s link to an earlier examination scam pertaining to the IDE will also be investigated, sources said.

Vice-chancellor P Duraisamy toldTOIthat in addition to the police investigation, a committee would be set up to probe violations that might have been committed by the staff.

There is strong suspicion about the involvement of some IDE department staff in the theft. About 70 answer scripts pertaining to the December 2016 examination scam where the involvement of a few staff is suspected were also in the room. Around six to eight staff members, including assistant registrars, section officers and attenders, are under the police’s scanner for alleged lack of supervision. Police sources say they will investigate if this was intentional, but there is no CCTV camera footage to help them. There are other give-aways in the case, say sources. For instance, it was found that IDE staff had not followed basic procedureslike making entries in the key register regarding the person who enters the room where the scripts are located. However, on the day the papers were found missing, there was an entry in the register.

Attenders in-charge of cleaning the room had also been careless about the keys to the room. “Anyone could have entered the room during night or day,” a police source said.

During theuniversity’s internal enquiry, answers given by different staff were similar as if they had been rehearsed, source said. 


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