Police find Maharashtra connection in alleged NEET irregularities; Zilla Parishad schoolteacher held
Latur/Godhra, June 24
The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a Zilla Parishad school teacher from Latur in Maharashtra and registered a case against four persons after it emerged that a racket was being operated to help NEET students willing to pay money to crack the exam, police said on Monday.
The four persons against whom a case was registered by the Nanded ATS unit include two teachers from Latur, a man from Nanded, and a resident of Delhi.
An FIR has been registered against Sanjay Tukaram Jadhav and Jalil Khan Umar Khan Pathan, both teachers from Latur, Iranna Mashnaji Kongalwav from Nanded and one Gangadhar, a resident of Delhi under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
Pathan was arrested on Sunday late at night, while the other three accused are at large, police said.
“ATS officials had received a tip-off that some suspects were running an illegal racket to help NEET students pass the exam in exchange for money,” stated a release issued by the office of the Latur district superintendent of police.
Subsequently, the ATS detained Jadhav and Pathan from Latur on Saturday night for questioning.
According to police, suspicious information regarding the NEET 2024 exam was found in the mobile phone of one of the detained persons.
“The arrested accused is identified as Jaleel Khan Umar Khan Pathan, while others are absconding and a search is on to trace them,” police stated.
Police said Jadhav and Pathan, the headmaster of a ZP school in Latur district, run a private coaching centre.
The ATS action came after the Centre handed over the probe into the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam- NEET-UG- to the CBI, giving in to demands of students protesting across the country for an investigation into the matter.
The CBI subsequently filed an FIR into the alleged irregularities in the exam conducted on May 5.
Meanwhile, a CBI team reached Godhra city in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district to investigate the case, officials said.
A case was registered by the Godhra police on May 8 under various Indian Penal Code sections, including criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal breach of trust, for allegedly trying to help 27 candidates clear the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) for a sum of Rs 10 lakh each.
The Gujarat police have so far arrested five persons, including the principal and teacher of a school in Godhra, in connection with the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG exam.
The racket was unearthed at a Godhra school designated as a centre for the 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.
