Police find Maharashtra connection in alleged NEET irregularities; school teacher held

Latur, June 24 (PTI) 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.

He was remanded in police custody till July 2 by a local court.

"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.