Supreme Court does not order re-examination for AIPMT at this stage as investigation in paper leak continues

On 26.05.2015, the vacation bench of the Supreme Court, comprising of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, was reluctant to direct holding the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) afresh following paper-leak allegations in the 3 May 2015 AIPMT test and it has directed the Haryana Police to expedite its probe in the paper-leak case to track the beneficiaries of the irregularities in the examination. As reported earlier, on 18^th May 2015, the Supreme Court had issued Notice in the writ petition seeking cancellation of the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) that was conducted on 3^rd May 2015 over allegations that its paper was leaked in Haryana. On the next date of hearing on 21 May 2015, the Supreme Court had directed the Haryana Police to identify beneficiaries of the AIPMT paper leak.

Latest Update (15 June 2015): 15 June – AIPMT exam cancelled by Supreme Court, re-test to be conducted by CBSE within 4 weeks.

Read the FULL Judgment of Supreme Court (date: 15 June 2015):

AIPMT Judgment: Tanvi Sarwal v. Central Board of Secondary Education, Supreme Court Judgment, 15 June 2015.

In today’s hearing (26 May 2015), the Supreme Court observed that since the investigation was in progress, it would not like to direct the holding of the AIPMT test again, rejecting the suggestion that delay in conducting the re-examination would have wide ramification on the admission process. The court also felt that if the beneficiaries of the irregularities could be identified, then there would be no need for conducting the re-examination. The court observed that any direction for conducting the AIPMT examination afresh would create large scale chaos. The Supreme Court has directed the listing of the matter for further hearing on 3 June 2015.

Also see:

(1) Supreme Court issues Notice over Cancellation of All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) over alleged paper leak in Haryana

(2) SC asks Haryana Police to identify beneficiaries of All India Pre-Medical Test paper leak

It is pertinent to point out that on the previous date of hearing on 21 May 2015, the Supreme Court had taken note of the status report filed by the Haryana Police in the investigation of the paper leak case and in this regard, the Supreme Court had passed the following order:

“The Superintendent of police, Rohtak, Haryana has filed the status report of the investigation which is being carried out by the police in Haryana. We are informed that a team of very senior officers is headed by Mr. Amit Bhatia, Dy. Superintendent of Police and the investigation is monitored by the Inspector General of Police.

In the status report, it is, inter alia, stated that on 3rd May, 2015, a secret information was received from one informer to the effect that some persons, who are named in the status report, are involved in leakage of answer key or question paper of AIPMT Exam and its circulation to candidates in lieu of monetary gain and who are moving around in Swift Car, number thereof is also disclosed in the report. After receiving this information, raids were conducted by the police near examination Centres and what transpired thereafter is also disclosed.

To put it in a nutshell, the police found that there was in fact the leakage of answer key or question paper and certain persons indulged in solving the question paper and forwarding the answers on various mobile numbers. Some of these mobile numbers are also given. The police was able to trace some of the question papers of which the answer keys were transmitted. The police has also been able to identify many persons who are involved in this racket and have recovered some incriminating material. Some of the accused persons are even arrested and they are being interrogated.

During the investigation, it is revealed that one Roop Singh Dangi is the kingpin behind this racket. They have also been able to trace out another person with the name Subhash Shrivastav, who runs an electronic shop in the name of ‘Spy Shop’ who was requested to supply undergarments of gents and ladies in which devices like SIM card could be fixed.

It appears from the reading of the report that a substantial progress is made by the police in tracing the culprits and modus operandi which was used in transmitting the answers of the questions. What remains to be done is to find out the actual beneficiaries of those question papers.

We are informed that a team of Doctors who were engaged for solving these questions had provided the answers, those answers were thereafter forwarded from about 70 mobile phones which were used for transmitting. Once the police is able to trace the numbers of these mobile phones, there is every possibility to locate the recipient of the answer keys as well.”

So, now this case will be listed before the Supreme Court on 3 June 2015, on which date a different vacation bench is likely to hear this case.