CJ Elsy, a section assistant at the Pareeksha Bhavan of the MG University who was arrested by the Vigilance Department on Saturday while taking a bribe of Rs 15,000 for a provisional MBA certificate had exploited loopholes in the system.
She took advantage of a confusion in the 'post-correction' exercise done at the varsity that reflected in the mark-lists of several MBA students. Some students who had cleared the examinations were told that they had failed while pass marks were provided for those that failed.
The female student from Thiruvalla whose intervention had led to Elsy's arrest had known her for a while as she had been working at the MBA section in the university since 2016. The former student of a college in Ettumannur had contacted Elsy in the past when the examinations were postponed.
Back then, the student had eight back papers spread across four semesters. She had failed in all the supplementary examinations.
Elsy exploited the student's fear of failure by telling her that her chance of clearing the 'mercy chance' was slim. She promised to help the student clear the subjects if she paid Rs 1.5 lakh.
After getting an assurance that she would be granted pass marks in all subjects, the student gave Rs.1.25 lakh to Elsy in three installments through bank transfer.
Student pledged ornaments to pay Elsy
Elsy refused to let the student know that she had passed all subjects in the mercy chance last November. The student, whose marriage was fixed, had even pledged her gold ornaments to bribe Elsy.
It was only when the examination results were published on the website in January that the student realised that she had been tricked. It was then that she contacted the Vigilance Department, said Vigilance SP VG Vinod Kumar.
Elsy had initially asked for Rs 50,000 for providing the provisional certificate. The student had managed to bargain and lower the demand to Rs 30,000.
The Vigilance Department said that it would probe to know if more university officials were involved in the scam. The files in the section where Elsy worked would be examined in detail.
Varsity to constitute probe team
MG University Vice-Chancellor Sabu Thomas said that the university would conduct a detailed probe into the scam. The Syndicate meeting to be held Monday would constitute a sub-committee to probe the matter.
The MG University courted a similar controversy in October 2019 over granting of marks illegally at an adalat attended by the then Higher Education Minister KT Jaleel. The issue snowballed into a major controversy, forcing the university to cancel the marks granted to 116 students. But the High Court later nullified the decision of the university.
Meanwhile, MG University Employees Union general secretary VP Majeed has announced that CJ Elsy has been suspended from the organisation. He also sought a comprehensive probe into the issue.
MG University Employees Association general secretary N Mahesh also sought a detailed inquiry into the incident.
