NEET Cheating Racket Busted: Five Arrested In Gujarat, Sought Rs 10 Lakh From Each Candidate For 'Help' In Clearing Exam

The Gujarat police have arrested five individuals, including a school principal and a teacher, in Panchmahal district for allegedly orchestrating a cheating scam during the NEET-UG examination.

The arrests were made following a tip-off that led to the uncovering of the plot at a designated NEET-UG center in Godhra.

The arrested persons are Tushar Bhatt, school principal Parshottam Sharma, Vadodara-based education consultant Parsuram Roy, his aide Vibhor Anand and middleman Arif Vohra.

Investigation in the case has revealed transaction worth over Rs 12 crore between students, their parents and the accused.

The suspects reportedly attempted to facilitate candidates who wanted to cheat in the NEET exam for Rs 10 lakh each.

The investigation began after the district collector received information about potential malpractice at the exam centre on 5 May.

An FIR was subsequently registered on 9 May at Godhra taluka police station, and authorities intervened to prevent any irregularities during the examination.

Rs 7 lakh in cash was recovered from Tushar Bhatt, who was appointed the deputy centre superintendent for the NEET exam.

Additionally, cheques totalling Rs 2.30 crore were found at the office of Parsuram Roy, who had allegedly promised his students guaranteed success in the exam for a fee.

"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 Superintendent of Police Himanshu Solanki, news agency PTI reported.

Parshuram Roy has told students to leave the questions they don't know and Tushar Bhatt would make sure to fill the answer sheets after the exam.

The main accused in the case is Parshuram Roy, who runs a coaching centre in Vadodara.

Roy was operating the entire gang through one Arif Vahora.

The accused had reportedly instructed the candidates to solve only the questions they knew and leave the rest blank, which would be filled when papers are collected after the exam.

The district additional collector and district education officer were present at the center on the examination day, where they interrogated Bhatt and examined his mobile phone. They discovered a list of 16 candidates, including their names, roll numbers, and exam centers, sent to Bhatt by Roy via WhatsApp, as detailed in the FIR.

Parshuram had sent the details of 26 candidates to Tushar Bhatt, a teacher at Jai Jalaram School in Godhra, through Arif.

Out of these, six candidates were giving the exam at one centre of Jai Jalaram School in Godhra and the remaining 20 children were giving the exam at another centre of Jai Jalaram School.

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