NEET 2024 Exam Scam in Vadodara: School Principal among 2 More Arrested

Vadodara- The Panchmahal police have recently arrested two more accused in the ongoing investigation into the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2024 exam scam at a School in Godhra. The said School was one of the NEET 2024 exam centres in Vadodara.

According to a recent report by Indian Express, the police have arrested the Jai Jalaram School principal Sharma, who was also the NEET coordinator for the Godhra centre, and a Godhra resident Vohra. 

Tthe Indian Express has reported that Sharma has been arrested for allegedly being in connivance with prime accused  Bhatt. Consequently, Vohra, who had been arrested for allegedly paying Rs 7 lakh to Bhatt, which was recovered from his vehicle during a raid by the education department on May 5 to thwart the alleged plan to tamper with the NEET answer sheets.

After the matter came to light, on the complaint of Panchmahal district education officer Kirit Kumar Patel, an FIR was lodged at the Godhra taluka police station on May 8 against Tushar Bhatt, Parshuram Roy and Aarif Vohra for allegedly playing a criminal conspiracy to help at least 26 students pass the NEET exam “with meritorious ranks through unfair means”.

The FIR stated that the attempted malpractice was “foiled” on May 5 during a raid at the NEET centre by an inspection squad of the education department. The raid was conducted following input received by the Panchmahal collector. Typically, the Panchmahal collector had a tip-off that Bhatt was planning to commit irregularities during the NEET 2024 exam and help some students.

According to the FIR, it had been decided that the students would appear for the exam and allegedly “only attempt the questions, which they could solve” while leaving the “rest of the answer book blank to be filled up by the agents after the exam when the answer book is submitted to the exam supervisor”, reports Indian Express.

Speaking to the Indian Express, investigating Officer, Godhra Deputy Superintendent of Police N V Patel, said “Sharma and Bhatt were in connivance to tamper with the OMR answer sheets that were to be left blank by the students involved in this scam… The investigation has revealed that Sharma was in the know and supportive of Bhatt’s plan to tamper with the OMR sheets. His name had cropped up during the interrogation of the accused, especially Bhatt”.

So far, five people have been arrested in this case they are Anand, Roy, Bhatt,  Sharma and Vohra.

Talking about Anand, he is based in Maneja, Vadodara but hails from Bihar. He is an education consultant, who put students in touch with Parshuram Roy of Roy Overseas (Vadodara-based immigration agency)… Students from the other states had also contacted Anand through his ads on social media and he had referred some students to Roy. We have recovered a list of students from Anand. He used to bring medical aspirants and connect them with a person named Parshuram Roy, who runs a visa and overseas education consultancy firm in Vadodara. Bhatt, a Geography teacher at Jai Jalaram School and the superintending officer of the NEET exam. However, he was arrested on Saturday, a day before the arrest of Purushottam Sharma.

However, “Anand has been sent to police custody till May 23 by a local court while Sharma will soon be produced in court”, informed N V Patel. Meanwhile, the local court has extended the police custody of Parshuram Roy, from whose office the police have recovered cheques signed by NEET aspirants involved in the fraud.

Also, Patel informed that an investigation is also being conducted to ascertain the identity of the students who had approached the accused to commit malpractices to pass NEET with good rank in merit.