The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two individuals for allegedly cheating the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025 aspirants and their families by falsely claiming they could manipulate exam scores in exchange for large sums of money.
As per a report by The Times of India, the arrests were made following a case registered on June 9.
According to the CBI, the accused — residents of Solapur and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra — allegedly told parents they had connections within the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the NEET examination.
The primary accused was arrested in Mumbai on June 9, while the co-accused was nabbed in Sangli district on June 10. Both were presented before the Special CBI Court in Mumbai, which initially remanded them to police custody till June 13. Their custody was later extended till June 16.
Investigators found that the duo had been meeting parents at Hotel ITC Grand Central in Mumbai’s Parel area. They reportedly demanded Rs 90 lakh per candidate, later reducing the amount to Rs 87.5 lakh. The accused promised that inflated scores would be shared with the parents six hours before the official NEET UG 2025 results were declared, according to TOI.
Further investigation revealed that one of the accused ran an admission consultancy firm in Navi Mumbai, while another associate operated a similar setup in Pune.
A forensic examination of mobile phones seized during the arrests uncovered incriminating evidence, including chats containing NEET roll numbers, admit cards, OMR sheet details, and records of financial transactions routed through hawala networks.
So far, the CBI has not found any involvement of government officials or NTA personnel in the scam. The accused are believed to have misled parents by falsely claiming to have internal access.
The investigation is ongoing.
