NEET 2026: Telangana govt urged to inquire into caste certificates of 117 candidates
Hyderabad: The caste certificates of around 117 candidates who qualified under the Scheduled Caste-1 (SC1) category in NEET UG 2026 have come under scrutiny amid allegations that ineligible candidates used fake SC1 certificates to secure MBBS admissions under the reserved category in Telangana.
Indicating a potential racket running in the city, Leaders of the Beda (Budga) Jangam community have reportedly alleged that at least 20 of the 58 candidates who secured MBBS seats under the SC1 quota in the first two rounds of counselling had submitted fake caste certificates. They further alleged that all the fake caste certificates were reportedly obtained from various tasildar offices in Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts.
Hence, they have urged the Telangana government to order an inquiry into the certificates and postpone the third phase of counselling until verification is completed.
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1% of the total seats is earmarked for 10 sub-castes of Beda (Budga) Jangam under the SC1 category, giving candidates from this community a greater chance of securing admission in medical college because prospects for higher education remained acutely low among this community.
The allegations came to light after Beda (Budga) Jangam community representatives compared the caste categories declared by some candidates in NEET-UG 2025 and 2026.
In NEET 2026, 117 candidates belonging to the SC1 category secured the qualifying 40th percentile, making them eligible for 61 seats reserved for this community. In the first and second phases of NEET counselling, 58 SC1 students secured admissions, while the remaining three seats needed to be filled up in the third phase.
According to official records they cited, some candidates who appeared under SC2 or SC3 in NEET-UG 2025 were listed under SC1 in NEET-UG 2026 and subsequently secured medical seats under the SC1 reservation.
As per the data, a student who appeared for NEET-2025 with a Scheduled Caste-3 certificate secured a rank of 2,88,029 but did not secure admission to MBBS. In NEET 2026, he claimed to belong to the Scheduled Caste-1 community and secured admission even though his rank fell by over 23,000 to 3,11,684. Similarly, a student who failed to get admission in a medical course with a 7,17,772 rank in NEET-2025 as an SC3 candidate secured a medical college seat with a 5,24,719 rank in NEET-2026 under the SC1 reservation. Another student secured admission to MBBS with a 2,92,201 rank in NEET-2026 under the SC1 reservation, having appeared for NEET-2025 as an SC2 candidate.
Commenting on this, a leader of the Telangana Beda Budiga Jangala Association, told Deccan Chronicle, "A racket was operating in Hyderabad to obtain fake SC1 caste certificates for ineligible candidates to help them secure admission to medical courses. They reportedly collect huge amounts of money for getting fake certificates. When we saw the list of candidates who got admission under the SC1 category, we found at least 20 candidates whose surnames were different from those in our community."
While Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences has already conducted two phases of counselling for qualified NEET-2026 candidates for admissions to medical courses, including MBBS in government and private medical colleges in Telangana, Anjaneyulu urged the state government to order an inquiry into the caste certificates of the 117 candidates qualified under SC1 and to postpone the third phase of counselling until then.
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