Five expelled for cheating in Agrani Bank recruitment test

The authorities have expelled five candidates of a recruitment test of Agrani Bank on charges of cheating in the exam.

Two of them were caught cheating at Titumir Government College centre and the three others at Tejgaon College centre on Friday afternoon.

Dhaka University’s Faculty of Arts organised the test for hiring cash officers in the state-run bank.

The faculty’s Dean Abu Md Delwar Hosain told bdnews24.com that the five were caught with mobile phones.

But Bankers’ Selection Committee Member Secretary Md Mosharrad Hossain told bdnews24.com that ‘digital devices’ were found on the five. 

“They managed to enter the centres with the devices despite tough monitoring. They were using the devices to send the questions to someone outside the centres and receiving the answers,” Mosharraf said.   

Delwar, however, said, “They were not detained with devices, but with mobile phones. One of those was found switched on.”     

“They were expelled for defying the ban on bringing mobile phones into the exam halls,” he added.

Mosharraf said they recommended handing the five to police, but the organisers of the exams did not do that.

Using electronic devices for cheating in exams is not new in Bangladesh.

Police arrested two students, including a Bangladesh Chhatra League leader, at the Dhaka University after they used the devices to help admission seekers cheat in the Oct 20 tests of the university last year.

The devices included a plastic card, which looks like a credit card but can be used as a mobile phone, and a tiny earphone for the candidate to communicate with people outside the exam centres to listen to the answers. 

Police arrested several people following information given by the two arrested students while a committee of the university had recommended expulsion of 12 students for getting admission by cheating in the exams.