Medical graduate appears as dummy candidate during FMGE exam in Pune, arrested

Pune: In a recent medical exam fraud case, a medical graduate from Uttar Pradesh was caught red-handed after appearing as a dummy candidate in place of the original candidate during the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) conducted at the Pune exam centre in Ramtekadi.

The police have arrested the accused under Sections 318(4) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, who was in two-day custody for interrogation after authorities suspected that he may have used a similar modus operandi to appear in other examinations, as he successfully deceived the invigilators in this examination despite prior warnings about his presence in a previous online exam.

It came to light that the accused appeared as a proxy for the original candidate, in the online examination. He took the exam in his place but could not succeed as the management at exam centre, TCS iON Digital Zone noticed his fraudulent activity. After identifying that the individual taking the exam was not the registered candidate, they immediately alerted the police. 

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An email was sent to the examination centre alerting them about the fraudulent candidate; however, the accused managed to appear for the first FMGE examination and even submitted the answer sheet.

Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) is a qualifying exam conducted by the National Board of Examination (NBE) in India. Indian students who completed MBBS abroad must clear the exam for Foreign Medical Graduates to get a licence to practise in India. Only the candidates who have passed MBBS from NMC-recognized medical colleges abroad are eligible to appear at FMGE. 

As per Pune Mirror news report, the incident occurred on January 12 when the first paper of FMGE commenced at 9 a.m. at the iON Digital Zone in Ramtekadi centre and the accused appeared for the examination. According to the FIR, registered after a complaint was filed by Vishal Bhosale, a commanding officer at TCS iON, the accused appeared for the examination under the supervision of three doctors appointed as exam supervisors.

The alert email was also sent to Bhosale and the supervisors; however, they allegedly failed to notice any irregularities during the examination. This reportedly helped the accused to complete the first exam paper undetected.

However, his activities were caught before the second paper exam which was scheduled for 2 pm when one of the supervisors forwarded the accused candidate’s Aadhaar card and other documents to the National Board of Examination (NBE). During verification, NBE officials discovered that the candidate was the one regarding whom an alert was made to the supervisors. 

Following this, the officials instructed the team to prevent him from appearing for the second paper. By 4:30 pm, the NBE confirmed that the individual posing as Saurabh Shrivastava was a proxy candidate. As a result, they caught the candidate and interrogation him. Moments later, he confessed to being a dummy candidate. Subsequently, the police were informed and he was taken to the station.

Police sub-inspector Dileep Palve of Wanowrie police station told Pune Mirror, “The accused is also a medical graduate. We are investigating whether he has appeared for other exams using fake identities. We will also examine Shrivastava's role in this case and will charge him if his involvement is established.”

After his arrest, the Wanowrie police produced him in court, requesting a three-day police custody. The court subsequently granted a two-day police custody remand for the accused. 

The police authorities are currently investigating the matter suspecting the involvement of other accomplices in the fraud. 

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