Maharashtra ATS nabs, interrogates 2 teachers over NEET irregularities case

Mumbai: For their connection with the alleged irregularities in NEET 2024 conduct, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) detained two teachers who run a private coaching centre in Latur district.

Speaking to PTI, an official informed that the agency’s Nanded unit detained the two on Saturday night and let them go after hours of questioning. 

The official said that one of the teachers works in a government school in Latur district. ATS will call the teachers again if needed, he said.

CBI files complaint over alleged discrepancies

Concerning alleged discrepancies in the administration of the May 5 medical entrance exam, NEET-UG, the CBI has filed an official complaint. According to PTI, the National Testing Agency (NTA) is also moving to include cases that police have registered in other states under its authority.

This occurred one day after the Centre declared that the CBI would take over the investigation into the alleged irregularities in the test. According to the PTI, the agency filed a new case against unnamed individuals under IPC sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy), among other charges, after receiving a referral from the Union Ministry of Education.

The ministry had on Saturday notified the seven-member panel headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Radhakrishnan to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through the NTA.

On Sunday, the NTA also clarified that its website and all its other web portals are fully secure, and reports that these have been compromised and hacked are wrong and misleading.

"NTA website and all its web portals are fully secure. Any information that they have been compromised and hacked is wrong and misleading," a senior official said.

The NEET-UG was held on May 5 across 4,750 centres and around 24 lakh candidates appeared. The results were expected to be declared on June 14 but were announced on June 4.

In an optional retest held for students whose grace marks were scrapped after the matter reached the Supreme Court, only 813 of the 1,563 such candidates appeared on Sunday. These candidates were awarded grace marks by the NTA to make up for the loss of time at six centres due to a delay in the start of the examination on May 5. There were allegations that it led to inflation of marks and contributed to six of the grace mark candidates from the same centre in Haryana scoring a perfect 720 marks along with 61 others.

"At least 52 per cent -- 813 out of 1,563 candidates -- appeared for the retest on Sunday. While no candidate appeared in Chandigarh, the number of candidates appearing from Chattisgarh (291), Gujarat (1), Haryana (287) and Meghalaya (234)," a senior National Testing Agency (NTA) official said.

Over 13 lakh candidates out of around 25 lakh qualified the NEET-UG this year and they will compete for around 1.8 lakh MBBS/dental seats. Amid allegations of irregularities as well as "bunching of high scorers", the NTA stated that the top one lakh candidates are spread across 4,500 centres all over the country. Moreover, nearly two third of these are from rural or semi-rural areas, it stated.

The NEET-UG examination is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.