KARACHI, Dec 21: One of the suspects, formally arrested in the IBA entrance test scam, confessed to having received a heavy bribe to manipulate the results.

Well-placed sources in the police department told Dawn that they had formally arrested two persons, Amir Hanif and Asim, both employees of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA).

The sources said that both the suspects had been produced before a judicial court in district East on Friday to seek a police remand. They added that the police had taken a four-day remand of the suspects to further interrogate them.

The third suspect in the case, still absconding, did not belong to the IBA, the sources said, adding that he had played a pivotal role in the whole scam.

“He is a computer expert and played a role of a broker in the scam, luring the parents into paying a huge sum of money assuring them that their children would get admissions to medical colleges,” an official said on the condition of anonymity. He declined to disclose the identity of the absconding suspect due to the sensitive nature of investigation.

During interrogation, Amir confessed before the investigation team that Rs50,000 to Rs100,000 had been received from the parents of some students and they had been assured that their children would get admission to the medical colleges.

The officials said that the suspects were being thoroughly interrogated and it was hoped that more people, who might be involved in the test scam, would be picked up for interrogation.

The investigation team short listed three suspects out of a list of 35 suspects, initially supplied by the IBA director, Dr Javed Ashraf, when he had lodged an FIR 97/2001 with the Mobina Town police station.

The inquiry of the case had been transferred to the Airport deputy superintendent of police, Haseeb Beg, on the very next day, who was also a member of the 15-member investigation team headed by Brigadier A.R Nasir.

The team comprises 12 officials of the Governor House Inspection Team and three officials of the police department.

The five suspects picked up earlier by the police from the IBA University Campus had been released after interrogation, the officials said.

The sources said the modus operandi of the suspects was that the they simply changed the answer scripts.

The investigation has been started soon after the FIR was registered at the Mobina Town police station under sections 420/406/468 and 409/34 of the PPC on the directives of the Governor’s House.

The station house officer of the Mobina Town police station had said that a candidate, Kavita, who had appeared in the Nov 15 test from Mirpurkhas, had written to the director of the IBA about sighting three cases of irregularties in the test. Subsequently, 7,500 candidates were given another test and again at least 34 cases of irregularities had been detected.

The irregularities had been committed by using fake IBA stamps, he added.

Meanwhile, the inquiry committee entrusted with the task of examining the results of the second entrance test was determined that those students who had resorted to underhand dealings be punished.

A.R. Nasir, head of the committee formed by the Sindh government to re-examine all the answer scripts of the entrance test given by the IBA following allegations of irregularities in some 35 cases, told Dawn those students who were found guilty of trying to tamper with their answer scripts would be disqualified from seeking to admission colleges for three years.