The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has called upon several candidates who scored over 90 percent in the Medical and Dental College Admissions Test (MDCAT) held on September 22. The agency plans to conduct a ‘mock exam’ for these candidates as part of its investigation into a potential paper leak.

Following court directives, the Sindh government established a six-member inquiry committee on October 10 to investigate irregularities in the MDCAT. The committee’s mandate includes:

• Determining criminal and civil liabilities.
• Investigating various aspects of the alleged paper leak, including its timing, through forensic analysis.
• Scrutinizing the marks scored about uneven results compared to candidates’ past academic performance and/or specific regions, among other things.

On October 26, the Sindh High Court mandated a redo of the MDCAT within a month in the province, following the inquiry committee’s conclusion that the entire test process was flawed.

The SHC also decreed that the FIA investigation should be concluded within two months.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the FIA’s Cyber Crime Circle in Karachi had issued summon notices to numerous students, requesting their presence before inquiry officers for questioning.

Dawn had access to two such notices, both issued to female students by Inspector Arfa Saeed of the FIA. In these notices, she mentioned investigating a leaked MDCAT paper that had “adversely affected the career prospects of deserving students in Sindh.”

One of the notices, addressed to a female student, revealed that during the investigation, she had scored “194/200 marks or 97%” in MDCAT 2024.

“Realistically, no student can achieve such high marks,” stated the investigation officer, suggesting that the student may have been “involved in the MDCAT-2024 leak” and, thus, ” she must present herself at the FIA Cyber Crime Circle” in Karachi on November 1.

The investigation officer called the student in, instructing her to bring her original computerized national identity card “to respond to any questions that may be asked of you or a mock exam may be administered in this office to assess the real situation.”

“Failing to adhere to this legal notice may imply that you have no defence to offer and legal proceedings based on the evidence at hand will be launched against you,” the FIA notice cautioned.

Authorities have confirmed that the notices issued to numerous students were identical in wording. Each student was summoned to the FIA on varying dates to undertake a “mock exam” and provide their statements under Section 160 of the criminal procedure code.

It’s worth noting that the inquiry report presented to the SHC highlighted an uneven or skewed pattern in the distribution of marks earned by candidates across Sindh districts.

“A significantly smaller proportion of students from Karachi (1.18 per cent) and Hyderabad (1.47pc) achieved scores of 187 or above, while a considerably larger proportion of students from Tharparkar (7.92pc) and Sujawal (7.32pc) reached the same score threshold. This discrepancy, where students from certain rural districts surpass those from highly urbanised areas in the MDCAT test, is challenging to justify.”