NEET-UG Malpractices Case | Gujarat Court Remands 4 Accused To 4-Day CBI Custody

Today, a special CBI court in Gujarat's Godhra District remanded four accused to four days of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody in connection with malpractices at NEET-UG held at Jalaram School in Godhra's Parvadi village. The people sent to CBI's custody by Principal District Judge of Panchmahal, C K Chauhan are Jay Jalaram School's principal, Purushottam Sharma, teacher Tushar Bhatt, and middlemen Vibhor Anand and Arif Vohra. According to the allegations against them, they were entrusted with conducting NEET in a free and transparent manner. However, as quoted by PTI, an official stated that the accused themselves were involved in organizing candidates and helping them secure high marks in the NEET exam in exchange for substantial payments. Allegedly, the accused instructed the candidates, from whom they received substantial amounts, to choose Jay Jalaram School in Godhra as their exam centre if they wanted to score well in NEET. The candidates were strictly told not to attempt questions they did not know the answers to and to answer only such questions as they were confident in answering. It was already decided that the accused's agents would fill in the correct answers on the OMR sheets after the exam had concluded and the answer sheet was submitted to the exam supervisor. The accused have been booked under Sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust and misappropriation by a public servant or banker/ merchant/ agent), 420 (cheating and dishonestly), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. In a related development, the Central Govt entrusted the investigation of alleged irregularities in the NEET (UG) Examination 2024 to the CBI on June 22. In an official press release, the Ministry of Education stated that “certain cases of alleged irregularities/cheating/impersonation have been reported” as regards the NEET UG exam held on May 5. Apart from this, on June 23, a re-test was conducted for 1563 students who were awarded grace marks. However, as per the reports, only 813 (approximately 52%) took the test, while others remained absent.[With updates from PTI]

NEET-UG Malpractices Case | Gujarat Court Remands 4 Accused To 4-Day CBI Custody

Sparsh Upadhyay

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