CID bust DU question leak racket, one more arrested

The Criminal Investigation Department or CID claim to have busted the ring behind Dhaka University admission test questions leak with the latest arrest made on Wednesday.

The arrestee is 28-year-old Khan Bahadur who used to work at the press that prints DU questions, SP Molla Nazrul Islam of CID’s Organised Crime Division said at a media briefing at the CID headquarters on Thursday.

“He was picked up from Dhaka’s Indira Road on Wednesday. Now we can say that the racket has been eliminated.” The CID have arrested 22 people in connection with the question leak over the last three months, according to the SP.

The ring leader, Rakibul Hasan Isami, a sports officer in Pabna district administration, is currently in police custody.

Entrance test for DU ‘Gha’ unit (Faculty of Social Science) was held on Oct 20. Some media reports published the night before claimed that English language question set for the test had been leaked.

The news sparked widespread criticism and discussions on Facebook.

The CID detained two DU students — Mohiuddin Rana and Abdullah Al Mamun – the same night. They used a ‘digital device’ to do the crime, CID said following primary investigation.

The Dhaka Unicersity proctorial team found an electronic device in possession of the duo that they used for communicating with aspirants taking the test inside centres.

Following information gleaned from them, DU authorities detained 13 aspirants in possession of similar devices.

The device looks like a master card with a SIM card and a tiny listening kit attached to it, acting Proctor Amzad Ali had told reporters.

Out of those detained, 12 were sentenced to month-long jail terms.

Three students of Daffodil University – Ishraq Hossain Rafi, Farzad Sobhan Nafi and Anin Chowdhury – were arrested between Nov 1 and Nov 3. The CID introduced Anin as the ring leader.

The three disclosed some facts following which Navi Anjum Tonoy and Enamul Hoque were detained from Rangpur and Gazipur respectively on Nov 14, SP Nazrul said at the news briefing.

Interrogation of Tonoy and Akash led to the arrests of 11 youths—Nahid Iftekhar, Rifat Hossain, Md Bayezid, Fardin Ahmmed Sabbir, Tanvi Ahmmed Mollik, Proshenjit Das, Md Azizul Hakim, TM Tanvir Hasnain, Sujaur Rahman Shamyo, Rafsan Karim and Md Akhinur Rahman Anik. All of them are aged around 18.

File Photo

“They have confessed to being involved in the supply of the device and leak of questions,” Nazrul told reporters.

Nazmul Hasan Nayeem, 19, was arrested in Dhaka’s Jhigatala and Boni Israil, 23, and Maruf Hossain, 24, were arrested in Rajshahi between Dec 7 and Dec 9.

Boni and Maruf used to get aspirants on board and update ring leader Rakibul Hasan Isami on them, Nazrul said.

“Police held Isami on Dec 11 and arrested one Saiful Islam in Jamalpur following his statement. During interrogation, they said Khan Bahadur works for the press which is used to print Dhaka University questions.

“Khan Bahadur and Saiful are acquaintances. Saiful asked Isami to start the scheme. Isami then ordered Saiful to collect the questions from the press and give them to him. This is how the racket was formed,” he added.

At least five of those arrested had confessed in court, according to SP Nazrul.