Medical student is caught cheating ‘with Bluetooth device surgically implanted in his ear’ in India

A medical student has been caught allegedly trying to cheat with a Bluetooth device surgically implanted in his ear while taking an exam in India.   

The student, who was not named, was taking his last attempt at the General Medicine exam which he had repeatedly failed since arriving at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College in Indore 11 years ago. 

He was rumbled during a surprise check before the exam on Monday when invigilators frisked him and found a phone hidden in the inside pocket of his trousers connected to the Bluetooth device. 

Officials searched for the Bluetooth attachment but could not find it until the student admitted under questioning that he had paid an ear, nose and throat surgeon to implant the skin-coloured device. 

A second student at the private medical college was found with a small SIM-powered phone and a Bluetooth device, though it was not surgically implanted and was removed with a pin.  

The devices were confiscated and sent for inspection while both students were given new answer sheets for the exam and are being investigated by the university examination committee.

Cheating is rife in India’s highly competitive medical school exams and authorities have in recent years struggled to stop pupils using ever-more sophisticated methods of cheating to pass. 

The student was taking the exam alongside 13 others when invigilators arrived for a surprise check for cheating ahead of the test on Monday, Dr Sanjay Dixit, dean at the medical college told The Independent.   

Officials from Devi Ahilya Bai University ‘confiscated the devices’ and ‘seized the answer sheets’ after finding the devices, Dr Dixit said. 

He said both students had hidden devices because they knew they were not allowed to use electronics during the exam and that they were likely to be checked.  

They are both being investigated by the university examination committee and could face police charges once the probe is completed, deputy registrar Rachna Thakur told the Hindustan Times. 

The Vice Chancellor of the invigilators, Renu Jain, said: ‘We think these microphones were surgically fitted in the ears of both the students. 

‘Cases have been prepared against both the students. A committee of DAVV will take a decision in this regard.’

It the latest in a string of high-profile efforts to cheat in public exams across the country. 

In September, ten people were arrested for attempting to cheat using Bluetooth devices concealed in their flip-flops ahead of a mass exam for trainee teachers.

The group hid devices in the soles of their flip-flops that could receive ordinary calls which would be transmitted wirelessly to tiny receivers hidden in their ears.

The plan was for accomplices outside to call the hidden contraptions and dictate the correct answers to the exams, according to Priti Chandra, a police official in the western city of Bikaner.

Investigations revealed that at least 25 students had bought these flip-flops from a gang for 600,000 rupees ($8,100) per pair.

The information was shared with several other districts in time for the exams and many centres asked the students to remove their footwear outside the examination hall.

‘In one case we caught a student after the exam and had to take him to a doctor to identify and remove the Bluetooth device from his ear,’ Chandra said. 

Around 1.6 million students took the exam in September, the first time the test has been held in Rajasthan since 2018, sparking concerns over potential cheating which has been rampant in the past.  

Authorities shut off access to the web on mobiles but kept broadband open in ten regions in Rajasthan as students took the Teacher Eligibility Test (REET). 

The exam is for a coveted qualification which allows trainee teachers to get jobs in primary or secondary government-run schools – positions that come with generous benefits.  

As part of further efforts to prevent cheating, authorities installed CCTV cameras at thousands of test sites set up across the state and candidates were asked to swap the face mask they arrived in for one provided by the centre.    

A document tweeted by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also revealed officials videoed the production of the exam papers – including the printing, transporting, and distribution of the tests. 

Workers involved in the process were told they would immediately be fired if they were found to have a hand in leaking the test paper.   

Meanwhile in March 2015, dozens of people scaled the walls of a school test centre in Bihar state to pass notes to relatives sitting the exam. 

Images circulated online at the time showing people clinging to the windows of the four-storey building where thousands of teenagers were sitting their exams. 

The students sitting the school tests face tremendous pressure because they must pass the exams to continue their education. 

But measures to prevent cheating in public exams have become more stringent in recent years after several dubious efforts made headlines. 

In October 2019 a school in Haveri, Karnataka state, came under fire for forcing students to wear cardboard boxes over their heads to prevent them cheating. 

Shocking images circulated on social media show the students at Bhagat Pre-University College sitting in rows with the boxes over their heads, cut open at one side.

The college was criticized for the unorthodox measure to prevent students from copying their neighbour’s work.