15 proxy examinees busted by IGNOU, 7 manage to flee

Fifteen proxy examinees from Maharashtra were detected during an IGNOU exam at the LD Arts college centre on Wednesday.

While seven managed to flee, eight were detained at the Gujarat University police station and were being questioned till late on Wednesday night.

During checking, it was found that their photos did not match with that of the names given on the admit cards. Thee students were appearing in an examination of ‘Foundation Course in Education of Children with Disability’, a 3-month programme offered by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), at the LD Arts College centre.

The students, who were all from Dhulia district near Jalgaon in Maharashtra, said they had been duped by their agent, named Umashankar Sharma.

They alleged that Sharma had been luring students from their district by helping them get admission into the course. Sharma had reportedly charged them money ranging from Rs500 to Rs5000, for ‘helping’ them.

“We don’t know who to approach in this regard as Sharma is the only link we have,” a student, who was detained, said. “When our admit cards arrived, we informed Sharma that our photos on the admit cards were damaged. Then Sharma told us to correct the photos on our own.”

Principal of LD Arts College, Mahipatsinh Chavda, said that out of the 110 students who were to take the examination, 96 were present in the exam hall. During checking, it was found that the photos on the admit cards of 15 students had been tampered with. Chavda said seven students had managed to run away when the fraud was discovered.