With 10 days left for the announcement of the All India PMT test results, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Haryana Police to make a last ditch effort to identify all beneficiaries of the paper leak by June 3.
The Vacation Bench of Justices AK Sikri and UU lalit while hearing a petition to cancel the exam received an updated status on the probe indicating that the beneficiaries could be in the range of 700. The Haryana Police officials informed the bench that the 72 SIMs concealed in specially designed jackets worn by the students were being monitored. They were purchased from three dealers and a total of 358 calls were made from them across various states.
The police have already arrested six persons in connection with the case while the kingpin RS Dangi who connected with doctors and experts to prepare the answer keys and relay it to the beneficiary students was still at large. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Maninder Singh who appeared for CBSE told the Court that there could not be a larger conspiracy in the leak as only persons with concealed equipment benefitted.
Even court agreed. “A conspiracy of this nature will be limited to few…or else it will create tremendous chaos and deadlines across states will be gone,” said the bench. However, it also added, “If there is a lurking doubt they (police) are unable to trace these persons, we may see what is to be done.”
The DGP of Haryana has already written to DGPs of several states seeking information about the calls made from the SIM cards used in the crime. The SIMs were obtained on fake IDs and were inactivated soon after the exam got over. Several parents too approached apex court to demand not a single beneficiary must be spared.