New Delhi: A schoolteacher in Godhra in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district and two others tried to help six candidates appearing for the NEET-UG competitive exam by promising to solve their papers for Rs 10 lakh each. A criminal case has been registered against them, police said on Thursday, PTI reported.
The racket was unearthed at a Godhra school designated as a centre for the NEET-UG exam held on Sunday for entrance to medical colleges after the district collector received a tip-off that some persons were involved in malpractice, according to an FIR. A physics teacher, Tushar Bhatt, the Deputy Superintendent of Exam at the centre, was booked along with two others, Parsuram Roy and Arif Vora. According to the report, Rs 7 lakh in cash was recovered from Bhatt’s car. Vora had paid him the amount as an advance to help a candidate get into the merit list, said the police.
There was an understanding between the accused and some NEET-UG aspirants. The latter were asked to leave blank space for the questions whose answers they did not know. The answers to these questions were to be written once the papers were collected after the exam, they said, quoting the FIR.
As per the FIR lodged at the Godhra taluka police station on a complaint of the district education officer, Bhatt was working as a teacher at Jay Jalaram School and was appointed the Deputy Centre Superintendent for NEET in the city.
A team comprising the District Additional Collector and District Education Officer reached the school on the examination day and questioned Bhatt. Upon checking his mobile phone, they recovered a list of 16 candidates with their names, roll numbers and exam centres which was sent to his WhatsApp number by co-accused Roy, stated the FIR.
Asked about the list, Bhatt said these candidates were to take the NEET exam at his centre. He confessed to having been promised Rs 10 lakh each to solve the question papers of six of these candidates, District Education Officer Kirit Patel was quoted as saying.
The investigating team seized the teacher’s mobile phone, cash and the car from where the cash was recovered and submitted a report to the District Collector, who later ordered the registration of an FIR.
“The FIR was lodged last night (Wednesday) and further action was being taken,” Patel said. As per the FIR, the accused said the candidates who promised to pay money were instructed to solve the questions whose answers they knew and leave others blank so that they could be filled with answers when papers were collected from them after the exam.
The three accused were booked for criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy, a Godhra taluka police station official was quoted as saying.
