Yet Another Use of DocuPen

From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1471673,curpg-1.cms

In Munnabhai MBBS, Sanjay Dutt coerced a top-notch doctor to write the medical entrance exam for him. The doctors who cheated their way through the All-India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination conducted by AIIMS took a considerably more tech-savvy route. Not for them strong-arm methods, they used a lightweight gadget for their under-handed operations.

The gadget in question is DocuPen, a small, extremely powerful pen-size scanner, which was used to leak the question papers. Though CBI sleuths have so far zeroed in on only 28 doctors who allegedly used the scanners, they don’t rule out the involvement of others.

Explaining the modus operandi, a CBI official said the accused doctors had scanned the entire question paper with the help of DocuPens. Though the device is small enough to be easily smuggled in, it is also powerful enough to scan a full page in just four seconds, making it ideal for the task.

The accused then transferred the scanned data to their mobile phones using Bluetooth technology, and sent out the paper to their ‘contacts’ through multimedia messaging.

The contacts, sitting in Pondicherry and Madurai, immediately solved the questions and sent the answers to candidates taking the exam at the Chennai and Delhi centres through SMS.

Mobile phones were not allowed in the exam hall, but the accused managed to bring them in. Interestingly, the phones also remained unnoticed throughout the examination.

The investigating agency came to know of this innovative method while questioning the four alleged kingpins (all doctors) of the paper leak case on Thursday. All four were arrested by the CBI following raids at their residences. While two of them — P Satish Kumar and Vijay Kannan — are doing their post-graduation from Madurai Medical College and JIPMER, Pondicherry respectively — the remaining two — Ravi Kannan and N Bhasker — have completed their post-graduation from JIPMER.

CBI officials alleged that the four arrested doctors were the masterminds behind the paper leak racket, though others may also be involved. They are also probing whether the examination papers were leaked in previous years as well. Meanwhile, exam authorities have their work cut out to ensure there are no copycat crimes.