CAT score scam of 2012: 1 held for tampering with scores

The Kochi unit of CBI on Tuesday arrested an employee with Lucknow-based Web Weavers in connection with the tampering of the score of Common Admission Test (CAT) of 2012. Admission to IIMs and a host of premier B-schools in the country is based on the CAT score.

Web Weavers was in charge of hosting the CAT score in the website http://www.catiim.in in 2012, when IIM-Kozhikode had handled the exam, then written by about 2 lakh aspirants. The arrested Muhammed Aafaque, 34, had access to the original results which was handed over to Web Weavers for hosting.

According to CBI sources, Aafaque had tampered with the results of 80 candidates in such a manner that they got the 99 or 98 percentile of score. “Ghaziabad-based consultant Career Guardian had collected money from these candidates promising them to ensure admission in prominent institutes. The candidates paid in the range of Rs 6 lakh to 15 lakhs. The firm got only 80 candidates in their trap although they had approached hundreds of candidates from across the country.’’

Sources said the arrested Aafaque too has got a part of the collected money. “More arrests would be made later. The career consultant and candidates who had paid the money to get higher scores are under the eye of the probe,’’ sources said.

The convener of the CAT-2012 at IIM-Kozhikode had got an anonymous letter, indicating about the irregularities in the published results. Subsequently, the institute lodged a complaint with local police in Kozhikode. In April, 2014, the probe was handed over to the CBI considering the inter-state angle of the crime.

The conduct and the evaluation of the CAT-2012 were entrusted to US-based Prometric, which handed over the results to IIM-Kozhikode, as that year’s exam coordinator. The IIM-Kozhikode handed over the result to Web Weavers for hosting in the official website of the CAT. The manipulation happened at the stage of publication of the results. The arrested employee had conspired with the Career Guardian to inflate the scores of candidates who had paid the money. He had rigged the scores and even some of the candidates who got the lowest scores turned eligible for admission for premier b-schools.

Following the alert from the anonymous complaint, the CAT convener at IIM-Kozhikode made a comparison between the scores published by the Web Weavers and the master database of the scores got from Prometric. The comparison revealed that scores of 80 candidates were manipulated, leading to the expose of the CAT score scam.

Subsequently, the CAT convener had asked all IIMs and other institutes to drop the 80 candidates from their admission list, if anyone of them was already admitted.

Sources said 77 candidates were removed accordingly, but three persons were still studying in some non-IIM institutes with their petitions pending in courts.

CBI sources said role of individual students in the scam would be verified before deciding to make them accused. The firm Web Weavers is also an accused in the scam. Aafaque has been absconding after the scam surfaced, but the CBI forced him to come to Kochi, where he was arrested. He was charged under sections 120b (conspiracy) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of IPC.

 

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