BAHAWALPUR: The entire staff of the examination centre set up at the Pakistan Railways High School, Sammasatta, was suspended from service after an inspection team nabbed 21 candidates red-handed while cheating in the class-IX exam being held there.

Dawn has learnt that an inspection team headed by Bahawalpur Saddar Assistant Commissioner (AC) Ahmed Shair Gondal, on a tip-off, raided the examination centre at the school run by the Pakistan Railways administration.

Official sources say the raiding team found that 21 candidates appearing in the mathematics paper were freely copying from written material allegedly made available to them by the examination centre staff, in a separate room.

They say the candidates were using unfair means in the presence of the supervisory staff of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Bahawalpur, and the school’s teachers hired by the board for invigilation.

The sources say that the staffers running the cheating racket were being patronised by some of the BISE officials and the school headmaster.

They says the team of 14 invigilators was led by superintendent Muhammad Imran, a senior school teacher, who resided at Sammasatta but was posted at some other place.

The sources added that the parents of each of the candidates had paid Rs5,000 to the examination centre staff.

After the news of the cheating scam spread in the town, a large number of locals gathered outside the exam centre demanding strict action against the board and school staff members involved in it.

BISE Examination Controller Ms Asma Qasim told Dawn by phone that the board’s supervisory staff concerned has been immediately suspended.

She said Commissioner Nadir Chattha, who is also holding the charge of BISE chairman, has been submitted a detailed report on the scandal.

“Now the board chairman will constitute an inquiry committee to probe the matter,” she added.

Dawn has learnt that after the suspension of the examination cenrtre’s supervisory staff, including the superintendent, a new team was appointed to conduct the afternoon paper on Monday.

KIDNAPPED: Yet another man was allegedly kidnapped by katcha area dacoits after being lured through a “honey trap”in the limits of Mitro police station, Vehari district.

As per police sources, one Ghazi Muhammad Bhatti (42), father of three blind sons, used to chat with a girl on his mobile phone.

He was allegedly kidnapped from his house by katcha area dacoits with the help of the girl, and was taken to Kashmore area.

The sources say that the dacoits called Bhatti’s sons and demanded Rs5 million ransom for their father’s release.

Mitro police have registered the case.

Meanwhile, the police have yet to recover the three men who were kidnapped from Bahawalpur allegedly through honey-trap recently.

BOOKED: The wildlife department Vehari officials got registered a case against one Qalandar Nasir after recovering two monkeys from his house at Chak 12-W/B.

The suspect has been booked for keeping the wild animals without a valid licence.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2024