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 today, June 24.
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, June 23, while the other three accused are at large, police said. A statement issued by the office of the Latur district superintendent of police said, "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."
Subsequently, the ATS detained Jadhav and Pathan from Latur on Saturday night. June 22, for questioning. According to police, suspicious information regarding the NEET 2024 exam was found on the mobile phone of one of the detained persons.
"The arrested accused is identified as Jalil Khan Umar Khan Pathan, while others are absconding and a search is on to trace them," police stated. Jadhav and Pathan, the headmaster of a ZP school in the Latur district, run a private coaching centre, police added.
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 the 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.
