Indian medical colleges suspended 153 students

Bhopal: At least 153 students from three government medical colleges have been suspended in Madhya Pradesh, after police opened cases against them for allegedly using unfair means to get admission.

The students are being accused of cheating in premedical tests.

“Local police registered FIRs [First Initial Reports] against these students for their involvement in Professional Examination Board (PEB) scam. These students got enrolled between 2006 to 2012 in different colleges,” said S.S. Kushwaha, director of medical education, Madhya Pradesh.

Some of the students involved in the scam have already passed out from the colleges.

The Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (PEB) scam has become an embarrassment for the state government as former higher education minister Laxmikant Sharma and other senior officials of the board have been booked by the Special Task Force (STF) of MP Police last month.

The Professional Examination Board conducts entrance examination for various professional courses and recruitment to public services in Madhya Pradesh.

Among those suspended are students from Shyam Shah Medical College, Rewa, Bundelkhand Medical College, Sagar and Gajra Raje Medical College, Gwalior.

Earlier, more than 80 students from Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal, Subhash Chandra Medical College, Jabalpur and Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, Indore were suspended for the same reason.

The Special Task Force on Tuesday arrested a man and his daughter in Jabalpu for their suspected involvement in the scam. The accused, Parasram Asrani and his daughter Ravina, were arrested over their involvement in a Pre-medical examination (PMT) scam in 2012.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday accepted in the state assembly that more than 1,000 appointments and admissions made by Madhya Pradesh PEB were found to be fake. He further said that the government was not going to spare anyone found involved in this scam.

Replying to the Motion of Thanks in the state assembly on the Governor’s address, Shivraj Singh said, “We came to know about the scam in 2009 and we immediately ordered a probe so that action could be taken against those responsible. We have found about a 1,000 fake selections and appointments out of 147,000 made by Madhya Pradesh PEB.”

The opposition Congress party has been demanding a CBI inquiry into the whole scam. Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Satyadev Katare said, “the state government should order a CBI probe into the scam. Thousands of youngsters have been deprived of jobs by those who could bribe the officials. Fake doctors were created by the officials by accepting money. There is a need for impartial inquiry so that the guilty could be punished.”

However, the state government has rejected the demand for a CBI inquiry, saying that the STF of the state police has exposed the whole scam and those involved so there is no question of handing it over to the CBI.

The suspended students at Gwalior medical college have already started protest against the decision of the medical education department. They have even threatened to launch an indefinite strike against the decision.