A special court has granted bail to two individuals arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly cheating NEET UG 2025 candidates by promising to boost their scores in exchange for money, said a report by India Today.
The accused have been identified as Sandeep Jawahar Shah from Solapur and Salim Khubbuddin Patel from Navi Mumbai.
According to the CBI, the accused were apprehended earlier this month in Mumbai and Sangli. They are accused of deceiving National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) aspirants and their families by falsely claiming to have connections within the National Testing Agency (NTA).
As per the CBI, Sandeep Shah initially demanded Rs 90 lakh from each NEET candidate but later reduced the amount to Rs 87.5 lakh. He and his associate allegedly promised students fake, inflated scores that would be shared six hours before the official results were announced.
In their bail plea, the accused contended that the investigation has concluded, so there is no justification for their continued custody. They also claimed that no incriminating evidence was recovered from them and assured the court of their willingness to cooperate during the trial if granted bail.
The CBI opposed the bail plea, arguing that further interrogation of the two accused might be necessary since other individuals involved in the case are yet to be arrested. However, Special Judge VP Desai, in his June 21 order, pointed out that the investigation team had not provided a definite timeline for the arrest of the remaining accused.
The judge observed that the mere fact that some accused are yet to be arrested is not sufficient grounds to deny bail.
The court also noted that the offence under "Section 7(A) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act" does not attract life imprisonment or the death penalty, with the prescribed punishment ranging from three to seven years.
Highlighting the absence of any indication that the applicants would evade trial, the court stated, “Nothing is brought on record against the applicant that he will not be available for trial. Hence discretion in the nature of bail can be exercised in the favour of applicants."
Accordingly, bail was granted to both accused after they furnished a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each and agreed to comply with the said conditions.
