Proxy MBBS examinee from UP held in Tripura

Agartala: A local court in Agartala on Monday sent a man from Uttar Pradesh to jail for writing the MBBS entrance test of Agartala’s Tripura Medical College (TMC) on behalf of a candidate from Guwahati.
Muhammad Ikbal (23) from Kharighat village of Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh was arrested on Sunday from Agartala’s Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) College for impersonating one Ashis Kumar Baruah of Guwahati.He was carrying Baruah’s admit card in the examination hall.
The invigilators found discrepancies between Ikbal’s appearance and the candidate photograph on the attendance register and admit card. After scrutiny, the signature on the original application was found to be different from Ikbal’s. He was handed over to East Agartala police station.
Ikbal told police that Ashis offered to pay him Rs 1.5 lakh to write the MBBS entrance test on his behalf. Ashis gave him air tickets, money for lodging and Rs 5,000 as advance, he said and added that he would be paid the remaining after taking the test.
Initial investigation revealed that Ikbal, who is associated with a coaching centre, has been taking exams on behalf of other candidates for the past two years.
The TMC conducts separate tests for medical aspirants. Non-residents of the state can also take the exam. As many as 1,271 students registered for the test and Ashis was one of them, said TMC chairperson B M Sinha. “The proxy candidate was immediately handed over to police. After the incident came to light, we thoroughly checked the papers of the other candidates, but found nothing amiss,” he added.