CAT results fudged, says IIM

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Kozhikode: The city police has registered a case and taken custody of a computer from the Indian Institute of Management here, suspecting tampering of results  of the Common Admission Test (CAT) held in October-November last year for admissions to 13 IIMs and 150 other non-IIM top B-schools across the country.
The case has been registered on a complaint filed by Indian Institute of Management authorities, here, at the Kunnamangalam police station on June 15. IIMK, which held the exam, had entrusted Prometric, a US-based MNC company, with the conduct and evaluation of tests. Results received by IIMK were handed over to another company, Web Weavers, which manages CAT website www.catiim.in.  City police commissioner G. Sparjan Kumar told DC that cross-matching of data sheets showed that scores of 80 examinees were tampered with or altered, resulting in the inflation of scores. The cyber cell compared the data posted on the CAT website by Web Weavers with that of the master data sent by Prometric, which confirmed the database manipulation.Sources suspect a server located in a North Indian city may have been used for manipulating results.As many as 2.14 lakh candidates took the test held between October 11 and November 6, 2012 for 3,500-odd seats at IIMs.
The police seized the computer used for data processing at IIMK on June 20”, said Kumar, adding that an FIR was registered under section 420 (cheating and dishonesty) and 120 B (concealing design to commit offence) of Indian Penal code and section 65 (tampering of computer source documents) of IT act. “Whether the website management company tampered with the data or somebody misused facilities of the company was yet to be unearthed. The cyber cell is proceeding with the investigation and culprits would be nabbed soon”, said Kumar.
Prof S.S.S. Kumar of IIMK, the convener of 2012 CAT examinations, told DC that IIMK had assured cent percent transparency in examinations. “It is not proper to say anything at this point as the probe is on”, he said.
However, following an alert by the IIMK, all IIMs have posted a communiqué on their websites, saying that the alleged tampering had not influenced the results since admissions were based on the master database.
“The admission process has in no way been compromised in any of the IIMs as a result of the tampering. Non-IIM institutes that have a formal relationship for the use of CAT scores are being alerted and scores from master database are being provided to them. IIMs are reviewing the process by which data are managed and published externally”, the communique said.
The police suspects that 150 non-IIM institutes, which regularly depend on CAT website scores, may be vulnerable. IIMK has completed the admission process and classes are scheduled to start in July first week.The issue came to light when some of the candidates submitted a complaint to the Minister of State for Human Resources, Dr Shashi Tharoor, through his personal assistant, who sent the complaint to IIMK.