Tax official masterminds question paper leaks
The man who masterminded leak of question papers in medical and dental admission tests is an assistant commissioner of taxes. Dipankar Chandra Sarkar had been making millions thanks to this illegal practice over the last few years.
Besides leaked question papers, law enforcement seized cheques worth Tk 10.7 million from Dipankar's possession while his accomplices were found with cheques worth over Tk 30.5 million.
This year the syndicate led by Dipankar took more than Tk 40.57 million from the guardians of about 60 students.
The law enforcement had arrested six people in connection with the leak, but Dipankar was freed on bail after just 10 days while the others secured bails in 20-25 days.
The arrestees include physicians Shamsur Rashid Dipu and Solaiman Hossain, Ekramul Islam Babu, Rasheduzzaman Ripon and his relative Sabina Yasmin Tinni.
However, as many as 15 people named in the charge sheet are still absconding.
Additional police superintendent of RAB-10 Muhammad Mohiuddin Faruki told Prothom Alo that legal action would be taken against all the people named in the charge sheet.
The medical admission test for the session 2017-18 was scheduled for 10:00am on 6 October this year. Around 8:00am, RAB-3 arrested Dipankar from a multi-storied building in Dhaka's Green Road area where Dipankar had been giving directions to Ekramul Islam over phone regarding distribution of the leaked question papers. They later arrested Ekramul from Jatrabari area of the city and seized his computer that had been used to store the question papers.
Members of the RAB then went to his office at Tax Zone 6 in Segunbagicha and seized 14 cheques worth Tk 10.7 million along with question papers and photocopies of 16 admit cards. The revenue officials were present.
The next morning RAB-10 went to Sabina Yasmin’s house in Rayerbazar area of the city and seized 35 cheques, question papers and certificates of 11 applicants. The law enforcement later recovered more question papers and three cheques from Sabina’s relative Rasheduzzaman’s house on Zakir Hossain Road in Mohammadpur area.
RAB then went to the luxurious apartment of Shamsur Rashid at Adabor from where they seized three cheques, original certificates of 10 applicants, question papers, and national identity cards of five guardians.
On 8 October, RAB seized five cheques of various banks, question papers, original certificates of nine students and national ID cards of five guardians from Solaiman Hossain, a doctor at a private hospital in Gulshan.
RAB filed two cases against them on 7 and 8 October in Kalabagan and Hazaribagh police stations under Public Examinations Act.
However, Professor MA Rashid, director (medical education and human resource development) of the health directorate, claimed the RAB had not informed them about the question paper leak.
According to senior tax officials, Dipankar can do anything. Dipankar joined the service as a tax inspector in 2006 after completing his post-graduation from Rajshahi University. He was promoted to an assistant commissioner in 2016.
Seeking anonymity, an official of Tax Zone 7 told Prothom Alo, "Dipankar maintains liaison with the top bosses. It is very difficult to transfer him outside Dhaka."
Barring a month in Chittagong and one and a half months in Faridpur, Dipankar had been in Dhaka in his entire career.
Dipankar, however, alleged that he is a victim of a conspiracy stemming off professional jealousy. He claimed that he had a reputation as an efficient tax collector, for which he had been rewarded every year.
"I was involved with Chhatra League during my university days. Later, I became a member of the central committee of BCL as well," he added.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) suspended Dipankar on 11 October after they had found him guilty of leaking the question papers of the medical admission test.
Solaiman was also sacked from his job while Shamsur Rashid changed his job station following their arrests.
The gang used to keep the national identity card or the main copy of the student’s certificate when the students or their guardians got the leaked question papers.
If a student passed the examination, they had to pay a certain amount to get those documents back.
These reporters retrieved details of the cheques recovered from Dipankar’s office. Four students, who gave the syndicate main copies of their certificates, also spoke to Prothom Alo.
The students said none of them handed over the cheques to the syndicate themselves. It was either their parents or a relative who would do that. One of these four students secured admission to a medical college.
Kalabagan police’s sub-inspector Alhajj Uddin said they appealed to the court seeking the addresses of the cheque holders on 5 November. Following the appeal, the court on 13 November directed the bank authorities to provide the police with the addresses of the cheque holders.
When asked, Professor Rashid-e-Mahbub, former president of Bangladesh Medical Association, lamented how money played a part here.
"It is very unfortunate some guardians believe they can get leaked questions in exchange for money. If this trend continues, people will be deprived of quality medical services," he observed.
*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Nusrat Nowrin, Farjana Liakat and Toriqul Islam