The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has unearthed a scam involving the recently conducted National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) which was held on September 12 for undergraduate admissions to medical courses. The CBI has found that a Nagpur-based consultancy was offering proxies to candidates to appear for the exam. According to the CBI, the consultancy was charging upto Rs 50 lakh per candidate for this.
The CBI has arrested Parimal Kotpalliwar, who ran the education consultancy firm named Education Career Guidance, who is accused of “soliciting aspiring candidates by offering them admissions to top government medical colleges by adopting fraudulent means and unfair practices.” The CBI has said that the firm assured parents of the candidates that they would send proxy candidates to write the NEET on their ward’s behalf. The firm would then ask the parents to deposit post-dated cheques of the agreed amount and documents like Class 10 and 12 exam mark sheets as security, which they would return after they were paid the fee, “the agreed amount which is up to 50 lakhs,” the CBI said.
“Information further revealed that the user IDs and passwords of the candidates appearing for the examination have been collected by Sh Parimal Kotpalliwar & his associates and necessary modifications have been made for getting desired examination centres as planned by them. They also use the process of mixing/morphing photographs to facilitate the use of proxy candidates for appearing in the examination. Copies of e-Aadhar cards of candidates are being collected for the purpose of making forged ID cards. He also assures candidates of providing answer keys and manipulating OMR sheets,” the CBI has said in its FIR filed against Parimal.
The CBI added that for this examination, Parimal sought the help of two others identified as Diwakar and Munna, and proxies were chosen for five candidates to appear for NEET on September 12.
The CBI has registered an FIR against Parimal, Diwakar and Munna, the firm as well as some unknown persons under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) r/w 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged 1[document or electronic record]) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as Sections 65 (tampering with computer source documents), 66C (punishment for identity theft) & 66D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource.)
In the recent past, other scams involving the NEET were also brought to light. In Jaipur, the police are probing a case involving the paper leak of the NEET 2021, and in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, instances have surfaced where people were charged a fee for writing the exam for candidates. In September 2019, a major impersonation scam was unearthed when a doctor, running a hospital in Vellore district in Tamil Nadu, was arrested in connection with a case of alleged facilitation of impersonation in NEET.
This fresh case also comes on the back of three student suicides allegedly over the NEET exam. Chief Minister MK Stalin had made an appeal to students not to end their lives over the exam. “Your life is invaluable not just to your families but also to the nation, the nation’s future itself depends on your futures. I beg that you do not give up such a precious life. You will become doctors and you will be able to fulfil your dreams,” he said. He added that the government is taking steps to exempt Tamil Nadu students from NEET. The Tamil Nadu Assembly has passed a Bill against NEET to make Class 12 marks the basis for undergraduate medical admissions in the state.