NEET paper leak update: CBI arrests private school owner in Godhra for allegedly taking Rs 10 lakh from at least 27 candidates each

Godhra: In the latest update regarding the alleged malpractices in the NEET UG 2024 exam, the Central Bureau of Investigation probing the case has arrested the owner of a private school in Godhra of Gujarat recently for allegedly accepting Rs 10 lakh from at least 27 candidates each to assist them in passing the exam.

With the arrest of Patel, owner of Jay Jalaram School situated near Godhra in Panchmahal district, the number of persons arrested so far- five held by Gujarat Police- has increased to six.

Jay Jalaram School was one of the designated centres where the NEET-UG exam was held on May 5.

Patel was arrested in the early hours of Sunday from his residence in Panchmahal district, said public prosecutor Rakesh Thakor.

"As the case has been handed over to the CBI by the Gujarat government, a CBI team will produce him (Dixit Patel) before a designated court in Ahmedabad to acquire his remand," said Thakor informed PTI. 

Also read- NEET Case Updates: CBI Conducts Searches At 7 Locations In Gujarat

Patel is the sixth person to be arrested in this case wherein the accused had allegedly demanded Rs 10 lakh each from at least 27 candidates to help them clear the test.

The other five persons, who were arrested earlier by the Panchmahal police, include Vadodara-based education consultant Parshuram Roy, Jay Jalaram School principal Purushottam Sharma, school teacher Tushar Bhatt, and alleged middlemen Vibhor Anand and Arif Vohra.

After taking over the probe a week back, the CBI had sought custody of four accused except Roy. On Saturday, the Godhra district court remanded Sharma, Bhatt, Anand, and Vohra to CBI's custody till July 2.

A preliminary investigation by the CBI has uncovered that the accused persons had asked candidates willing to adopt illegal means to obtain high scores in the National Eligibility-and-Entrance Test (NEET-Under Graduate) to opt for Jay Jalaram School as the exam centre.

Last year's NEET exam at the same school had exposed a crucial vulnerability wherein answer sheets were stored overnight, prompting the accused to conceive a plan to tamper with Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets during this period, the CBI had told the court.

As per Gujarat Police, the accused persons allegedly asked the candidates not to attempt a question if they did not know the answer.

Prima facie, Bhatt, a physics teacher, filled in the correct answers on the papers while they were still at the school premises post-exam.

The CBI on Saturday raided seven locations in Gujarat, further intensifying their probe into the alleged NEET malpractices. Statements from six candidates who allegedly paid bribes were recorded last week, linking them to the accused.

A case was registered by Godhra Police on May 8 against Bhatt, Roy, and Vohra for attempting to manipulate the NEET-UG process by extorting Rs 10 lakh from 27 candidates each. Authorities, who were tipped off about potential malpractice, preemptively intervened at the school, averting irregularities.

Bhatt, appointed as the exam's deputy superintendent at the school centre, was apprehended before the test, and Rs 7 lakh in cash was seized from him.

The investigation showed that Roy had allegedly convinced at least 27 of his students that he could help them clear the exam for Rs 10 lakh. In a subsequent raid, cheques amounting to Rs 2.30 crore were discovered in Roy's office.

Roy had allegedly asked his students to opt for the Godhra centre so that Bhatt, Sharma and others could help them.

Of the 27 students who had either paid in advance or agreed to pay money to Roy and others, only three managed to clear the exam with a passing score, while the remaining 23 failed. Investigations continue as the CBI seeks to unravel the full extent of the malpractice network.

This year's NEET UG 2024 exam was mired in controversies after a paper leak scam came to the light. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that around 13 people, including four examinees and their family members, were arrested in Bihar for their alleged involvement in the paper leak of the NEET-UG exam. Patna police sources had previously claimed that the NEET-UG question papers along with their answers were provided to around 20 aspirants a day before the date of the exam i.e. May 5, 2024.

Then, the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police, which took over the investigation, revealed that the brokers involved in the NEET paper leak scam took between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh from each of the medical aspirants in exchange for giving them the question paper of the NEET UG 2024 question paper ahead of the examination.

Multiple pleas have been filed before the High Courts and the Supreme Court seeking an investigation into the alleged paper leak scam. Some of the pleas demanded the scrapping of the NEET UG 2024 exam and holding a retest. Meanwhile, during the case proceedings, NTA earlier decided to withdraw the grace marks awarded to 1563 candidates and hold an optional retest for those candidates. Those who did not opt for the retest were allowed to retain their original marks, without the grace marks.

The matter is now being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Central Government on June 22, 2024, handed over the charge of investigation in the alleged irregularities in the NEET UG 2024 examination to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

"Certain cases of alleged irregularities / cheating / impersonation / malpractices have been reported. For transparency on the conduct of the examination process, the Ministry of Education, Government of India after a review has decided to entrust the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for comprehensive investigation," the Ministry of Education stated in a release.

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