Dog's photo in student's admit card, police action ordered

Sniffing a conspiracy, the West Bengal government on Monday ordered police action against a candidate who claimed he downloaded an admit card for the ITI entrance exam from the official website with a dog's photo on it.

Soumyadip Mahata from Jhargram in West Midnapore district on Saturday claimed he downloaded the admit card for the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) entrance test with a dog's photo. The test scheduled on Sunday was cancelled after a question paper leak.

State Minister for Technical Education and Training Ujjal Biswas on Monday said he has directed police in West Midnapore to take action against Mahata, saying the candidate had himself uploaded the canine's picture in his application form.

"It's a candidate who pastes a picture on the application form and not the department. Mahata had uploaded the application form with the dog's photo and is now making false claims to malign the department and the state government," said Biswas.

"We suspect he acted in pursuance of a conspiracy. We have directed district police to initiate action against him and, if required, arrest him to unravel the entire matter," the minister said.

Biswas claimed the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) was involved in the leak of the question papers that eventually led to rescheduling of the exam to July 5.

The technical education department on Sunday cancelled the test after media reports said question papers were being sold openly.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee subsequently announced the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) will probe the matter.

"How did Ganashakti (CPI-M's Bengali mouthpiece) get hold of the question paper which they published? Unless and until their men are involved, they can't access that. This is definitely a conspiracy," Biswas said.

"The chief minister has already ordered a CID probe and the truth will be in front of all to see," he added.