NEET 2024: 5 held in Gujarat for trying to help candidates clear exam; cheques of Rs 2.30 crore seized

GODHRA: Five persons, including the principal and teacher of a school in Godhra town in Gujarat's Panchmahal district, have been arrested so far for allegedly trying to help 27 candidates clear the NEET-UG for a sum of Rs 10 lakh each, police said on Friday.

The racket was unearthed at a Godhra school designated as a centre for NEET-UG, held on May 5 for entrance to medical colleges, after the district collector received a tip-off that some persons were involved in malpractice, as per the FIR registered on May 9.

The arrested persons are Tushar Bhatt, school principal Parshottam Sharma, Vadodara-based education consultant Parsuram Roy, his aide Vibhor Anand and middleman Arif Vohra, said Superintendent of Police Himanshu Solanki. As per the FIR registered at Godhra taluka police station on the complaint of the district education officer, Rs 7 lakh cash was recovered from Bhatt, who was working as a teacher at Jay Jalaram School and was appointed the deputy centre superintendent for NEET in the city.

"Roy had convinced at least 27 of his students that he can help them in clearing the exam for Rs 10 lakh. We found cheques of Rs 2.30 crore from his office during a raid. Since the collector had received the tip off that Bhatt would engage in malpractice during the exam on May 5, officials had reached the centre well in advance and had prevented any malpractice," said Solanki.

Also read 'NEET counselling process soon': Dharmendra Pradhan amidst opposition's questions, new demands

Sources have revealed that out of 27 students who had either paid in advance or agreed to pay money to Roy and others, only three were able to clear the exam. Roy had asked his students to opt for the Godhra centre so that Bhatt, Sharma and others can help them.

As per the FIR, the accused told the candidates to solve the questions they knew and leave the others blank, which would be filled when papers are collected after the exam. "Roy had told students to skip tough questions. As per the plan, Bhatt would tick the right answers on their OMR sheets during the 30 minutes given to centre supervisors to pack the papers. Bhatt had planned to take help of solved papers usually uploaded online by coaching centres almost immediately after such exams," said Solanki.

As per the FIR, the district additional collector and district education officer reached the school on the day of the examination and questioned Bhatt. When they checked his mobile phone, they recovered a list of 16 candidates with their names, roll numbers and exam centres that had been sent to his Whatsapp number by Roy, the FIR stated.