NEET-UG Row: School Principal Among 5 Held In Gujarat's Godhra For Trying To Help 27 Candidates Clear Exam

The accused were arrested from the Godhra town's Panchmahal district and reportedly helped the candidates for Rs 10 lakh each.

NEET-UG Results Controversy: The principal and teacher of a school among five persons have been arrested so far in Gujarat's Godhra town, for allegedly trying to help 27 candidates in clearing the NEET-UG medical examination. 

The accused were arrested from the town's Panchmahal district and reportedly helped the candidates for a sum of Rs 10 lakh each, police told news agency PTI.

The racket was unearthed after the district collector received a tip-off about the involvement of some persons at a Godhra school, which was designated as a centre for the medical examination, the FIR registered on May 9 stated.

According to the PTI report, the arrested persons are school principal Parshottam Sharma, Tushar Bhatt, middleman Arif Vohra, a Vadodara-based education consultant Parsuram Roy, and his aide Vibhor Anand, Superintendent of Police Himanshu Solanki stated.

The FIR, which was registered at Godhra taluka police station, following the complaint of the district education officer, stated that a sum of Rs 7 lakh cash was recovered from Bhatt, a teacher at Jay Jalaram School. Bhatt was appointed as the deputy centre superintendent for NEET in the city, PTI reported.

Students Asked To Pay Rs 10 Lakh For Help To Clear Exam

The education consultant Roy had convinced around 27 of his students to give him Rs 10 lakh in return of his help in clearing the exam.

"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.

As per PTI's report, out of the 27 students who had paid the money in advance or had agreed to pay Roy and others for the exam, merely three students were able to clear the NEET-UG exam.

Roy had even asked his students to opt for the Godhra centre while filling the  examination form, to make it easier for Bhatt, Sharma and others to help them.

Students Told To Skip Tough Questions

The accused had also asked the candidates to solve questions that they were familair with and leave others blank. These questions would be filled after the papers were collected after the exam ended, the FIR noted.

"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," Solanki told PTI.

As per the FIR, the district additional collector along with the district education officer had reached the school to question Bhatt on the examination day.

"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. 

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