NEET row: ZP school teacher remanded in police custody till July 2

NEW DELHI: A court in Latur city of Maharashtra on Tuesday remanded a Zilla Parishad school teacher in the custody of police till July 2 in connection with the alleged NEET-UG exam irregularities. Police produced Sanjay Jadhav, who was detained for questioning the previous day, in the court of the chief judicial magistrate. Of the four accused in the case, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has so far arrested Zilla Parishad school headmaster Jalil Khan Umar Khan Pathan and detained Jadhav after it emerged that at least four persons operated a racket to help NEET students willing to pay money to crack the exam.

Pathan was on Monday remanded in police custody till July 2. All four accused were booked in the recently notified Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. A search is on for two other accused, Iranna Mashnaji Kongalwar and Gangadhar, the latter believed to be in Delhi. Prima facie, Kongalwar used to act as a mediator who collected admit cards of NEET aspirants from Pathan and Jadhav.

"After cards are collected, Rs 50,000 would be paid in advance to Gangadhar, following which admit cards would be sent to him. Typically, the deal used to be finalised at Rs 5 lakh (per student for facilitating paper leak)," a police official had said. The Centre has handed over the probe into the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam- NEET-UG- to the CBI, which subsequently filed an FIR.