Munnabhai hits Asom hard

Guwahati, Sep 1 (UNI) Munnabhai MBBS sequel Lage Rahho Munnabhai today hit the silver screen all over India, but the medical education of Asom has been hit so hard by the ''Munnabhai'' syndrome that it may not be able to cleanse the system at all.

''It is very difficult. We have already caught 18 students without any special expertise. This may be the tip of the iceberg.

We may not be able to catch many at all,'' said Asom Health Minister Dr Himanta Bishwa Sharma admitting that Munnabhai type of proxy examination has completely plagued the medical education system.

Amongst the fresh recruits, 13 have been spotted, two caught during the examination itself, while three others were arrested after completing the first year of the MBBS.

''I am coming back to you in a month or so. Because there are even bigger catches to make. If we do not stop around another dozen now, they will become doctors by another four months'' said the health minister, shocked by the size of the operation.

The preliminary investigation by the CID of Asom has found the trail in Bihar from where the whole operations blueprint was carried out.

''Amongst the students we caught, there are wards of brick kiln owners. They are from Bihar. They have their education in Bihar, while their father runs brick kiln factories in Asom. said Dr Sharma.

The government has been baffled at how lower meritorious students were scoring over higher meritorious students in the past few years needing even Chief Ministerial intervention.

The CID officials have claimed that more students are being picked up as they have found evidence of a definite nexus. ''So far these discrepancies were caught based on the signature variation by our own faculty members. Once the criminal investigation starts there will be naturally more,'' the minister said.

According to officials, some linkman operates very smoothly.

''They take a portion of money in advance and the admit card and did not allow the actual students to know who will sit in the examination on their behalf. The modus operandi seems to be very crude,'' the CID source said.

''The linkmean make the deal with the parents for about Rs three lakh and then take the admit card, taemper with it by changing the photograph and pay a hefty sum to a good student to sit in the examination. The rest is very simple,'' said the CID source.

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