Investigation into the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) examination paper hack has revealed that about 200 students allegedly ‘cleared’ the test and got admission in prominent medical colleges across the country, police said. The exam was held in December 2016 to admit students into postgraduate medical courses.
Police have so far arrested three persons, including two BTech students, who allegedly charged a huge amount — ranging between Rs 40 lakh and Rs 1 crore — from aspirants after assuring them of a good rank in the exam.
On April 29, The Indian Express first reported that the Central Range of Crime Branch had cracked the case with the arrest of two persons — Abhishek Singh and Atul Vats — and found that computer servers were allegedly hacked during the exam.
“The third arrest was made a few days ago from Greater Noida. The accused, identified as Hansul, was arrested after Vats disclosed his name. He told police that he helped four candidates who appeared for the exam in Greater Noida and cleared it,” police sources said, adding that they have recovered Rs 25 lakh from Singh and Vats.
Sources said after conducting a thorough investigation, a team led by ACP (central range) Sandeep Lamba found that 200 applicants cleared the exam.
Investigators are likely to
approach them in the coming days. “Police have so far identified three examination centres — Chandigarh, Ranchi and Greater Noida — from where the server was allegedly hacked. Police have conducted raids in all these centres and found there were no CCTV cameras in the server rooms,” the sources added.
Police said raids are also being conducted in Delhi, Bengaluru, Bihar and other cities to nab the remaining accused, including some doctors who allegedly sat with the accused and solved the paper.
“Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik recently received an anonymous complaint, which provided details of some of the doctors who allegedly cleared their exams after paying money. The letter was forwarded to the Central Range of the Crime Branch. They have started scanning details of these students,” sources said.
On January 20, police received information that some people cleared the online medical entrance examination, held between December 5 and December 13, by hacking the servers.
Explaining the modus-operandi of the gang, police said the accused zeroed in on aspirants and struck a deal with them after taking a hefty amount. Vats met a person looking after the software used for the examination and roped him in. Singh, meanwhile, asked some doctors for help. The doctors would sit in a hotel in Dwarka and take the exam from there,” a senior officer said.
“On the day of the examination, the candidate at the examination centre would be able to send the questions to the doctors as the servers were compromised. The paper was solved by experts sitting in a hotel in Dwarka, who would send the answers back
to them,” an officer said.
- Written by Mahender Singh Manral
