The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested two men from Maharashtra for allegedly running a high-stakes operation to manipulate the results of the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2025.
The accused, Sandeep Shah of Solapur and Salim Patel of Navi Mumbai, were arrested earlier this week for proposing to "fix" exam scores for Rs 87.5 lakh for each candidate.
The CBI verified that no officials from the National Testing Agency (NTA), which administers NEET-UG, were involved in the case thus far, Shiksha reports.
According to the CBI inquiry, Shah contacted parents of NEET-UG candidates and said he could change their children's marks in the final results.
Meetings were organised in high-end hotels such as the ITC Grand Central in Mumbai, where parents were shown sample documents and verbally assured that the results would be "pre-shared" with them six hours before the formal announcement.
Shah allegedly demanded Rs 90 lakh from a parent but ultimately settled for Rs 87.5 lakh. Payments were made using both cash (Rs 32.5 lakh) and hawala (Rs 55 lakh) methods, revealing a complex financial history.
A digital forensic analysis of the accused's mobile phones uncovered nearly 1,600 pages of extensive WhatsApp chats, lists of NEET-UG aspirants with names, admit cards, and OMR details, logs of monetary transactions through hawala channels, and internal notes claiming "marks will be pre-informed before NTA result."
The couple was brought before a special CBI court, which prolonged their custody until June 16 to allow investigators to confront them with the overwhelming digital evidence.
While Shah and Patel are believed to be the front-end operators, the CBI is looking for a third accused — considered the mastermind — who may have ties in Pune or Navi Mumbai, maybe through educational consultancies.
According to sources, the scam may be part of a broader syndicate that sought to influence various high-stakes exams by manipulating answer sheets, impersonating people, or gaining backdoor access to examination systems.
