The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has called multiple top scorers of the Medical and Dental College Admissions Test (MDCAT) to hold a mock exam as part of an investigation into examination paper leak.
Previously, on Oct 26, Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered a retake of the exam within a month in the province after the inquiry committee found out that the entire test procedure was compromised.
SHC also handed over the investigation to FIA, asking that it should be concluded within two months.
FIA’s Cyber Crime Circle officials in Karachi then issued call-up notices to several students, asking them to appear before the investigation team to answer their questions.
Dawn reports that two such notices were issued by Inspector Arfa Saeed to many female students in which she stated that she is conducting an investigation into the matter of paper leak that has “damaged the career of meritorious students of Sindh”.
A notice served to a top scorer said that she has obtained “194/200 marks or 97pc” in MDCAT 2024, which is “practically… not possible for any student to obtain such a highest marks.”
The inspector also alleged in the notice that it appeared that the student was “involved in leakage of MDCAT-2024” and, hence, “required to appear at FIA Cyber Crime Circle” in Karachi on Nov 1.
Therefore, the student was asked to bring her original computerised national identity card “to answer such questions as may be put to you or your mock exam maybe conducted in this office to examine the actual position”.
“A failure to comply with this legal notice may entail that you have nothing to say in your defence, and legal action based on available evidence on record shall be initiated against you,” warned the FIA notice served to the female students.
FIA confirmed to Dawn that the wording of the notices sent to the top-scoring students was identical and all of them were asked to appear before the agency on different dates to take a “mock exam” and to get their statements recorded under Section 160 of the criminal procedure code.
Notably, one of the points of the inquiry report submitted before the SHC also said that the distribution of marks obtained by candidates across Sindh lacked a pattern.
Dawn quotes, “A notably smaller percentage of students from Karachi (1.18 per cent) and Hyderabad (1.47pc) scored 187 or higher marks, while a significantly larger percentage of students from Tharparkar (7.92pc) and Sujawal (7.32pc) achieved the same score threshold. This disparity, where students from certain rural districts outperform those from highly urbanised areas in the MDCAT test, is difficult to explain.”
