The sensational case of malpractices in the postgraduate medical entrance examination at Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), Ballari, which rocked the State in 2011 has taken a new twist with Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) officials now alleging that a lawyer appeared on their behalf without any authorisation and derailed cases to help the accused.
The accused identified as Shivakumar S. Badwadagu has reportedly been appearing in cases related to the 2011 malpractices at the High Court of Karnataka, Dhrawad Bench, claiming to represent RGUHS without any authorisation. RGUHS has alleged that he also got into an unholy nexus with the accused and manipulated the evidence to get judgments in their favor.
The scam came to light when the RGUHS recently reviewed the cases and found it was losing many cases. It then came to light that Shivakumar was responsible and that he was representing the university, without getting approval from the legal department or the official concerned. “The lawyer has helped and has been successful in getting all 11 cases disposed off in favour of the accused in the cases,” said M.R. Ravikumar, Registrar (Administration), RGUHS, who has now lodged a complaint with Tilak Nagar police.
Based on the complaint, the police on Friday registered a case against Shivakumar for cheating, causing disappearance of evidence and impersonation. However, the police said they will transfer the case to the apt jurisdictional police in Dharwad for the probe.
In January 2011, when some candidates had complained to the Registrar, RGUHS, about alleged malpractices in conduct of the exam after results showed the 11 top ranks were bagged by those who had appeared at VIMS centre, the probe was handed over to the CID.
