Archive for month: June, 2024

New Delhi: Amid the raging row over the paper leak controversy around the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) due to ”lack of integrity,” Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has assured that strictest action will be taken against the guilty and CBI is going to catch everyone involved. He further said that the discussion must happen within tradition and decorum.

“The government is ready for every kind of discussion, but everything should happen within tradition and decorum. When the President herself spoke about the exam in her speech yesterday, it showed the government’s intention that we are ready to face any issue… The government’s responsibility is towards the youth of the country, towards the students of the country… The government is ready to put forth its side, then what is the confusion? … We are going to take the strictest action and the CBI is going to catch everyone, we will not spare anyone. A credible high-level committee has also been formed for reform, soon the date of all those exams will also be announced. I also request the opposition to come out of politics and join the discussion,” said Dharmendra Pradhan, quotes ANI.

The opposition however is adamant on its demand to enforce a discussion on the alleged irregularities in the NEET examination.

Rajya Sabha LoP and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Under Rule 267 we are demanding a special discussion on it in the House, and after that, we will state our demands.”

Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda said, “The future of the youth has been spoiled due to the continuous paper leaks in the country. The maximum number of paper leak cases have been seen in Haryana. The paper was leaked in the NEET exam and the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is running away from responsibility. We had brought up a discussion on this and when it was raised in the House, the mike was switched off. If the mike of the Leader of the Opposition is switched off, then there will be anger among other opposition MPs and the same happened in the House. We demand that this issue be discussed.”

Notably, for the NEET-UG and UGC-NET exams, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on June 23 registered a criminal case over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the examination by the NTA and formed special teams to probe the matter.

As per the agency’s FIR, certain “isolated incidents” occurred in a few states during the conduct of the NEET (UG) 2024 examination, which was held on May 5, 2024.

This year’s NEET UG 2024 exam was mired in controversies after a paper leak scam came to the light. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that around 13 people, including four examinees and their family members, were arrested in Bihar for their alleged involvement in the paper leak of the NEET-UG exam. Patna police sources had previously claimed that the NEET-UG question papers along with their answers were provided to around 20 aspirants a day before the date of the exam i.e. May 5, 2024.

The accused was identified as a 53-year-old resident of West Singhbhum, Jharkhand and he used to work at a chemist shop. He has a history of
similar fraudulent activities and this is the second time that he has been
arrested for posing as a doctor in the past five years.

According to the Rourkela
police, he assumed the identity of Dr R***** C****** J** and used his
credentials to secure a position as a medical officer in the dialysis unit of
RGH on December 23 of the previous year, reports The New Indian Express. He got
the employment through Rahi Care Pvt Ltd, an outsourcing firm. His fraud was
exposed when Bajaj Finance, a financial services company from which he had
taken a personal loan of Rs 16 lakh, scrutinized his documents and uncovered
the fraud.

His scheme fell apart when he failed to forge
a document correctly, which contained the actual phone number of the doctor he
was impersonating. He had skillfully altered Dr Jha’s medical certificate,
Aadhaar card, and other documents, superimposing his photograph to create a
convincing fake identity, reports the Daily.  

Superintendent of Police
Brijesh Kumar Rai confirmed that Bajaj Finance had lodged a complaint of
impersonation and fraud against the accused. The investigation revealed that
in 2010, he had been employed at Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital (HTMCH)
but fled when his true identity was discovered. He was previously arrested in
November 2019 by Town police in Sundargarh for deceitfully securing a position
at Hathbari Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Nuagaon block, about 45 km from
Rourkela.

According to The Daily, he
had worked there for nearly three years before his credentials were questioned.
The, then, Sundargarh Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Dr SK Mishra grew
suspicious and had his qualifications verified by the Veer Surendra Sai
Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) in Burla, leading to a
complaint and his subsequent arrest on November 13, 2019. 

Dr Ganesh Prasad Dash,
the superintendent of RGH, stated that the hospital had no means to find out
his impersonation, as he had very discreetly completed the registration process
with the Odisha Council of Medical Registration recently. Mayur Agarwal, the
area manager of Rahi Care Pvt Ltd, remarked that he possessed significant
technical knowledge, which initially masked his deception. The agency was
informed of the fraud by the police on Wednesday and has since terminated his
employment. A police complaint will also be filed against him by the firm. He
was earning approximately Rs 50,000 per month through the agency.

Interestingly, the
accused grew up in Rourkela, completing his education up to Class XII in the
steel city, where his father worked at the Rourkela Steel Plant. He later moved
to Jamshedpur, where he worked at a chemist shop, which sparked his interest in
medicine and his subsequent fraudulent pursuit of a medical career.