KARACHI: As part of its investigation into a paper leak, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) summoned a number of candidates who scored over 90% on the Medical and Dental College Admissions Test (MDCAT) on September 22 and planned to conduct their “mock exam.”
The Sindh government formed a six-member inquiry committee on October 10 in response to court orders to investigate MDCAT anomalies by determining criminal and civil liabilities; to conduct a forensic investigation into various aspects of the paper leak, including its timing; to examine marks obtained by comparing lopsided results to candidates’ previous academic performance and/or by a particular subject, etc.
The inquiry committee came to the conclusion that the entire test procedure was compromised, and on October 26, the Sindh High Court ordered a retake of the MDCAT within a month in the province.
Additionally, the SHC had mandated that the FIA investigation be completed within two months.
According to officials, on Tuesday, the FIA’s Cyber Crime Circle in Karachi sent call-up notices to a number of students, requesting that they appear in front of inquiry officers to respond to their inquiries.
Dawn looked at two of these notices that the FIA’s Inspector Arfa Saeed had given to as many female students. In them, she said that she was looking into a leaked MDCAT paper that had “damaged the career of meritorious students of Sindh.”
One of the letters to a female student stated that during the course of the investigation, it became apparent that she scored “194/200 marks or 97 percent” on the MDCAT 2024 exam.
The inquiry officer claimed that the student appeared to have been “involved in leakage of MDCAT-2024” and was therefore “required to appear at FIA Cyber Crime Circle” in Karachi on November 1. “Practically, it is not possible for any student to obtain such a high mark,” he said.
“To answer such questions as may be put to you or your mock exam may be conducted in this office to examine the actual position,” the inquiry officer summoned the student and asked her to bring her original computerized national identity card.
The FIA notice stated, “A failure to comply with this legal notice may entail that you have nothing to say in your defense and legal action shall be initiated against you based on available evidence on record.”
According to the officials, the notices sent to dozens of students had the same wording, and they all asked them to appear before the FIA on different dates to take a “mock exam” and record their statements in accordance with Section 160 of the criminal procedure code.
It should be noted that the inquiry report presented to the SHC stated, as one of its points, that candidates’ marks were distributed asymmetrically or lopsidedly across Sindh districts.
“While a significantly larger percentage of students from Tharparkar (7.92 percent) and Sujawal (7.32 percent) achieved the same score threshold, a significantly smaller percentage of students from Karachi (1.18 percent) and Hyderabad (1.47 percent) scored 187 or higher. It is difficult to explain why students from certain rural districts perform better on the MDCAT test than students from highly urbanized areas.
