PESHAWAR, Sept 26: The NWFP government has sacked the chairman of the Education Testing and Evaluation Authority (ETEA) following leak of the test paper for medical college admission.

The test was postponed on Sunday after the authorities found that the paper was being sold to students.

NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani took serious notice of the case and called a special meeting which decided to sack the ETEA chairman and other employees and to appoint a new chairman of the authority.

According to a handout issued here on Monday, Mr Durrani named Amjad Shahid Afridi, secretary for schools and literacy, as the new head of the ETEA.

The meeting held at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat also decided that the new admission test would be held on October 2.

The chief minister ordered the chairman of the provincial inspection team, Mr Shala Khan, to conduct an inquiry into the leak and submit his report within a week. He asked police officials to widen the scope of their investigation.

Over 8,850 students were to appear in the test at the Army Stadium in Peshawar and Ayub Medical College in Abbottabad on Sunday.

Mr Durrani urged the education secretary and the new ETEA chairman to hold the Oct 2 test in a transparent manner to ensure only gifted students were admitted to medical colleges.

The chief minister said that elements involved in the scam would be severely punished.

Meanwhile, the city police claimed on Monday to have arrested two main suspects and released most of the other people detained for interrogating in the wake of the scandal.

Capital City Police Officer Habibur Rehman said at a press conference at the Police Headquarters here that some more people involved in the ‘marketing’ of the test paper were at large and would be arrested soon.

He said that 12 officials of the ETEA were being interrogated and if anyone was found to be involved in the scandal he would be formally charged.

The city police chief claimed that Mobeen Samad, who worked as driver of the executive director of the ETEA for two years and was now employed by a private company in Hayatabad Industrial Estate, had conspired to steal the test papers in cooperation with Aamir Mushtaq, ETEA office assistant.

“Both planned to make money by selling entry test papers and apparently succeeded in doing so,” Mr Habibur Rehman said.

Giving details about the theft, he said that the ETEA used daily wage-earners to staple the 16-page test paper in a conference hall and the entire work was carried out in secrecy.

Office assistant Aamir Mushtaq asked Mobeen Samad to join the daily wagers’ team and steal a set of papers during the stapling process, the city police chief said, adding that Mobeen stole a set of papers on September 18 and hid it under an old dusty chair.

SSP Operation Saeed Wazir said that before stealing the papers, Mobeen had made a duplicate key of the conference hall and he went to the office early in the morning the following day, picked the papers from under the chair and took them home.

The man gave the stolen papers to a relative, Yasir, a degree college teacher, who sold it to one Ziauddin alias Kala Khan a shopkeeper in Gulbahar Colony, for Rs200,000, he said, adding that Ziauddin sold the paper to someone else.

He said the buying and selling of the papers continued till Saturday night, a day before the test.

The police officials said that initially they had arrested many people but later released most of them on personal surety. A formal case has been registered against eight people.

Those who have been formally charged are Aamir Mushtaq, Mobeen Samad, Yasir, Ziauddin, Ali Khurram, Sohail, Saad and Amjad.

The police had also arrested Fahad, brother of accused Saad, and son of a local influential person, Samiullah. But the police have released him although his name was included in the FIR.

Mr Wazir said that the man had only been interrogated and not charged in the case because he appeared to be innocent.

Meanwhile, police on Monday secured a four-day physical remand of Aamir, Mobeen, Samad, Yasir, Ziauddin and Ali Khurram from a local court. Sohail, Saad and Amjad were presented before the court and police got their five-day physical remand.