Fake website ‘impersonates’ KEA, collects information on students, schedules counseling session
Bengaluru: The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has filed a police complaint following an incident of a fraud website claiming to be that of KEA illegally obtaining information about students from various fields in the state.
The suspected people behind the fraudulent website ‘www-kcet.org’ had also scheduled a counseling session for the students on May 25 at the premier government medical college in the city Bengaluru Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI), according to a report in the Deccan Herald.
The KEA has filed a complaint with cybercrime police, providing the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and the screenshots it received from students who had registered with the fake website.
The fraudulent activity reportedly came to light when KEA officials received calls from parents and students who wanted to know why KEA was asking for their mobile numbers and other details. Executive Director of KEA, H Prasanna, said that the details of the fraudulent website came to light when KEA probed the matter.
The ED said also said that a few KEA employees in the Computer section were directed to pose as students and register in the fake website. He added that the personnel then got messages confirming their registration for an event titled ‘Medical Expo 2025’ to be held at BMCRI between 8 am and 8 pm on May 25.
The organizers had posed as a company titled Medical Mentor and also misused the KEA logo. The KEA officer said that the fraudsters had been conducting similar events for several years to trap medical students by assuring the candidates seats and guidance. The KEA had also found that the candidates were charged Rs 30,000 each, he said and added that the events were being conducted at the BMRCI, with more than 1,000 students registering for the event. The ED said that top officials of the Medical Education Department had also been invited for such events.
The officer suspected the seat-blocking mafia to have played a major role in the fraudulent activities.
Prasanna, however, said that the KEA is yet to confirm the number of students who registered with the fake website. He added that students as well as parents would be warned not to share their details on any websites as KEA never did so.
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Rahul Gandhi should've been allowed to quote Naravane's 'memoir' in LS: Sharad Pawar
Baramati (PTI): NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi should have been allowed in the Lok Sabha to quote from an unpublished "memoir" of former Army chief MM Naravane.
The controversy on the memoir, 'Four Stars of Destiny', centres on the events of the Indo-China stand-off in 2020.
A row erupted in the Lok Sabha on Monday after Gandhi sought to quote from the unpublished "memoir" of former Army chief Naravane, but Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, along with other BJP members, strongly opposed it and accused the Congress leader of "misleading" the House.
Pawar said Gandhi "should have been allowed" to speak on the subject in Parliament during the Budget session.
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"If the former Army chief has written something and if the leader of the opposition is saying something, then it is his (Gandhi's) right and he should have been given that opportunity," the Rajya Sabha member said at a press conference in Baramati.
He said that an atmosphere of suspicion should not prevail unnecessarily in the country.
"The former Army chief has written something in the book which shows there was some concerning situation. If a discussion had taken place in Parliament on the issue, people could have got a clear picture," Pawar said.
Though the book is unpublished, Gandhi held a copy of it and the Lok Sabha speaker asked to authenticate the copy, he noted. "Why was there opposition (to Gandhi) when the copy was authenticated?" Pawar asked.
Gandhi on Wednesday cited the unpublished "memoir" to claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not fulfil his responsibility during the India-China conflict in 2020 and passed the buck on to Naravane.
Addressing reporters in the premises of Parliament House complex, Gandhi held up Naravane's unpublished "memoir" and said he would like the youngsters in India to know that this 'book' exists despite the government claiming otherwise.
He said Naravane has written the full account of what happened in Ladakh.
Gandhi has also written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, lodging his strong protest over being disallowed from speaking in the House on a matter of national security and terming it a "blot on our democracy".
He has also said that it was for the first time in history that LoP was not allowed to speak on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address.
