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Bangladesh MP allegedly hired 8 lookalikes to take exams for her

Bangladesh MP Tamanna Nusrat, left, is shown alongside a student who allegedly took exams for her at Bangladesh's Open University, in this still image from video posted by Nagorik TV. Nagorik TV/YouTube

Exams suck. But what if you could just hire someone else to take them for you?

A member of Parliament in Bangladesh has been kicked out of the country’s Open University after she allegedly recruited lookalikes to take a battery of exams on her behalf, school officials told the BBC.

Tamanna Nusrat, an MP for the governing Awami League, allegedly enlisted her doppelgangers to help her pass a BA course at the Open University in Bangladesh. The university says she had as many as eight people taking exams for her, officials told BBC.

“We expelled her because she has committed a crime. A crime is a crime,” professor MA Mannan, head of the university, said in a statement to the AFP.

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“We have cancelled her enrollment. She will never be able to get admitted here again.”

No charges have been announced to date.

Bangladesh’s Nagorik TV exposed the scheme after talking to one of Nusrat’s lookalikes. Nagorik TV reports that Nusrat “completed” 13 exams over four terms without attending any of the tests in person.

A college official told the AFP that Nusrat’s proxies were protected by “musclemen” whenever they sat for tests.

“Everybody knew it but nobody uttered a word because she is from a very influential family,” the official said.

Tamanna Nusrat Bubly is shown in this image from her Facebook page. Tamanna Nusrat Bubli/Facebook

Nusrat was elected as an MP in February under Bangladesh laws that allocate several seats for women in Parliament. Nusrat is also well-connected as the widow of Lokman Hossain, the former mayor of Narsingdi who was shot dead in 2011, the AFP reports.

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Nusrat has not commented publicly on the case.

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