Things have changed since then. With armed policemen patrolling the campuses during exam time, universities in the cowbelt now look like fortresses under siege. The Rampuri and the cobra are a thing of the past. Cheating is a far more complex activity these days, and it becomes much more serious during the entrance tests for admission to medical and engineering colleges. Everything from impersonation to paper leaks to cheating is tried to get that coveted seat in a prestigious institute. And with professionals joining the racket the latest example being the arrest of two IIM graduates last week for impersonation at this year's CAT cheating in exams is apparently becoming big business.

The Chandigarh police, which is working on the case following the two arrests, believes the racket is run by a few former students of IIMs, some of whom work with big MNCs. These cheating experts offer all kinds of services -- from ghost-writing the exam for weak candidates to giving ideas about how to cheat. Needless to say, they charge huge amounts of money for their hi-tech services.

Now, it's all about technology. Cheating experts as well as students are becoming more sophisticated in their use of technology -- from mobiles phones to iPods to wireless earpieces -- to escape detection from invigilators. Take iPods, for instance. Its text-file display is used as a modern form of crib notes. Students can also record formulas and other bits of information beforehand and listen to it during the exam undetected by threading the earpiece cable through a full-sleeved shirt. In addition to impersonation, use of Bluetooth facility to transfer data both in words and voice is a growing trend, even in schools.

In UP, impersonation in medical and engineering tests is nothing new. But now, expert `paper solvers' are using technology to cover their tracks. In May 2005, two medical graduates were caught with microfilm pasted on their thumbs. The same microfilm was used by their impersonators for putting their thumb impressions on the day of the exam to avoid detection. Last year, two students were caught in UP with exclusively tailored shirts fitted with concealed earphones attached to mobile phones, which they used for listening to answers being dictated by a source from outside the campus. Some other candidates were caught with mobile phones hidden in marker pens.