Students Get Bluetooth Device Surgically Fitted In Ear To Cheat In Medical Exam

Two medical students in India were caught red-handed with Bluetooth devices surgically fitted in their ears to cheat in their final exam.

The incident took place in the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College at the central state of Madhya Pradesh on Monday, Edexlive reported. A flying squad of Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV) caught the two students. One of the two students, who had been repeatedly failing, had only the last chance left to clear his final papers so he resorted to installing the device to facilitate cheating, Hindustan Times reported.

"He was taking the General Medicine exam on Monday with 78 others when a flying squad of the Devi Ahilya Bai University headed by its deputy registrar Rachna Thakur reached the place," Dr. Sanjay Dixit, dean at the medical college, told the daily.

A member of the team, Dr. Vivek Sathe, frisked the student and found a mobile phone in the inner pocket of his trouser. The phone was switched on and was connected to the device, Dixit was cited as saying by the outlet.

During a subsequent interrogation, the student confessed that he took help from an ENT surgeon to get the device surgically implanted into his ear. He apparently said the Bluetooth device could be removed using a pin.

Another student also had a similar Bluetooth-powered microphone fitted into his ear during the Feb. 21 exam, Edexlive reported. A tiny device with SIM resembling a cellular phone was also found in the student's vest.

"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," Renu Jain, Vice-Chancellor, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV), told the outlet.

The micro-sized devices were reportedly placed in such a way that no one would be able to notice them.

Dixit told the outlet that the management of the college has passed on all the required information to DAVV and a probe was initiated against both the students. The names of the students weren't disclosed.

"It is very easy to get Bluetooth fitted in the ears. It is attached to the ear temporarily and can be removed. Such a technique was used by a Vyapam scam accused too to clear his medical exam eight years ago," said Dr. Anand Rai, the whistleblower in the so-called Vyapam scam -- an entrance examination, admission and recruitment scandal unearthed in the same state in 2013.