CBI tracks down 121 impersonators after scanning 9.5 medical aspirants

New Delhi: 121 impersonators have been identified by the CBI in the Vyapam scam related to a major case of rigging of medical examinations in Madhya Pradesh. 9.5 lakh medical students were scanned by the apex investigating body to reach the culprits. Bogus selection of doctors in MP stands to threaten the very legitimacy of the selection process and the associated institutions, feel officers of the investigation agency.

The Central Bureau found that a majority of applicants had distorted their photographs pasted on the online application forms and impersonators had appeared for them as proxies in the pre medical test(PMT) 2009 and 2010, and pre-PG (medical) entrance test conducted by Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB),

The CBI after filing an FIR in 2015 on a Supreme Court Directive discovered 300 impersonators who appeared for the applicants proving true the allegations made of massive corruption in the medical entrance test.

According to sources it took the investigating body six months and an extensive scan of medical students in six states— Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Bihar- to create a database of 9.5 lakh medical students using their homogeneously digitized pictures.

"For us, it was a challenge to match these photos with the ones on PMT and Pre-PG forms, and advanced forensic software was used by experts, along with anthropometric principles, to overcome the morphing disguise of the existing pictures.

However, our teams worked hard and identified 121 people who appeared for others, out of 9.5 lakh students," said a source.

The Central Forensic Laboratory has been on the job of matching specimen handwriting and thumbprints with the question-answer and online OMR/mark sheets.

The CBI sources revealed of the 121 suspects identified 73 has appeared before the investigating body and 20 among them had been served with notices. The agency is trying to locate 28 others, as they could not be found on the mentioned addresses reports TOI.

The CBI sleuths have registered 170 cases in this Vyapam case and 74 Charge sheets and final reports filed.

The Vyapam case has been under a 40 member SIT CBI team scan since 2015.