Question Leak, Other Crimes: DU to expel 67 students
The Disciplinary Board of Dhaka University yesterday recommended that the university’s syndicate expel 67 students for their involvement in admission test forgery, drug abuse and possession of illegal arms.
Of the students, 63 were allegedly involved in question leak and digital forgery, while the rest possessed illegal arms and abused drug. Police last year had pressed charges against the 63 in a case filed over forgery in admission tests.
The board comprising DU Vice Chancellor Md Akhtaruzzaman, deans and provosts also made a recommendation for suspending nine students over admission forgery.
It also recommended suspension of 13 students for involvement in mugging and nine for admission forgery. They will be served show-cause notices to explain within seven days as to why they should not be expelled.
The board also made a recommendation for suspending two students for six months for attacking two journalists on the campus on September 23 last year.
The recommendations will soon be sent to the DU syndicate for approval.
Briefing journalists at his office, Proctor AKM Golam Rabbani said, “We will not spare the culprits… This a question of the university’s dignity.”
He, however, did not disclose the identity of any of the 67 students.
On January 31 last year, the DU had expelled three students for their links to a digital forgery gang and 12 others who got admitted to the university through forgery in 2017.
The three are Mohiuddin Rana, student of physics and ex-assistant secretary of the BCL central committee; Abdullah Al Mamun, student of applied chemistry and chemical engineering and also leader of the BCL’s Amar Ekushey Hall unit; and Navid Anjum Tonoy, student of geography and environment.
They were arrested hours before the university’s “Gha” unit admission test on October 20, 2017. Later, a case was filed with Shahbagh Police Station in this connection.
The Criminal Investigation Department of police probed the case and pressed charges on June 23 last year against 125 people, including Rana, Mamun, Tonoy and the 63 students who now face expulsion.
The CID arrested 47 of the 125 accused, including the alleged mastermind Alip Kumar Biswas, a suspended assistant director of Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKSP), at different times. The 78 other accused are absconding.
The main four accused, including Kumar, are now on bail.
Police tracked down the gang members following a series of arrests since October 2017 when investigators raided two dormitories hours before the “Gha” unit admission test.
In its investigation, the CID found that the questions were leaked mainly in two ways: from a printing press on Indira Road in the capital the night before the exams and through digital devices minutes before the tests started.
Admission seekers were given the answers via tiny ear-pieces a few minutes into the exams.
The investigators said the gang struck deals with government job aspirants and public university admission seekers in exchange for hefty sums and helped many cheat their ways into universities and government offices.