Anand Rai, an opthamologist in Madhya Pradesh uncovered cheating in medical school exams and made it public in 2009. This has resulted in 1,800 arrests and many unhappy gangs who pioneered this kind of business for aspiring medical students. Twenty-three people who are involved have died questionable deaths since this whistle-blower spoke up about the state examination board scam, also known as the Vyapam scam.
One of those who died was a suspect on trial for helping two students cheat, according to the LA Times. Another is a journalist who interviewed a family involved in the cheating. One of the informants to the investigators, who is also a medical school dean, died in his hotel room.
Ram Naresh Yadav, the governor of Madhya Pradesh at the time, quit his position February this year. He was connected to securing five people as his forest guards, DailyMail reported. Yadav's son, who was also involved in the scam, died a month later. Investigators are also looking into this particular death, as well.
Out of 50,000 medical school examinees in Madhya Pradesh, only 700 will have a chance to get accepted. This rate of acceptance has pressured applicants to consider cheating. Only financially capable students can afford this because cheating packages can go from $30,000 to $160,000. Competing gangs vary their rates depending on particular services they offer. These services may include seeing the test beforehand to having someone else take the examination for them.
The roots of this scandal have gone so deep that India's Supreme Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to take over the investigation from the state's police, according to BBC News.
Another cheating scandal last March in Bihar has shown that cheating in India is still rampant. Parents and relatives climbed up school walls and tried to give cheat sheets to the 10th graders who were taking year-end examinations, CNN reported.
