Karnataka police arrest NEET counselling centre staff from Mumbai
It is suspected that he would have defrauded more people on the same pretext, which will get ascertained while he is interrogated over the next few days.
The Karnataka Police on June 29 said that they arrested an operations in-charge of a National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test–Undergraduate (NEET-UG) counselling centre in Mumbai for allegedly duping an aspirant by promising admission in the desired medical college. The cheating case was filed last year.
“We arrested Organda Arvind Kumar, 47, and has now been remanded to custody. Our investigation is underway and the questioning of the accused is also going on,” Rohan Jagadeesh, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Belagavi City, told The Hindu.
It is suspected that he would have defrauded more people on the same pretext, which will get ascertained while he is interrogated over the next few days.
His arrest came to light in Mumbai on Friday morning when the employees of Advaya Vidya Pravesh Margdarshak, a NEET counselling centre at Saki Naka area turned up and found it to be locked. The previous day, that is, on Thursday, the staff was asked to sign-off early.
“Around 60 employees work here, who then approached me being concerned about their salary as June month is coming to an end. In turn, I informed the local police to look into the issue. The arrested person’s real name is Arvind Kumar and in Maharashtra he has changed it to Adtiya Deshmukh,” Shiv Sena MLA Dilip Lande told mediapersons.
The employees have filed a complaint with the local police against the arrested accused. The employees would purportedly approach candidates over phone calls for “guidance” post NEET results were declared.
Mr. Lande suspects that the accused having a links with the alleged NEET-UG paper leak case having its imprint in several States, including Maharashtra.
The Belagavi City Police did not rule out the accused changing his identity to escape arrest. “We do not have any information of his involvement in the larger paper leak case. During the course of the investigation, we will question him on this as well,” the police officer added.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting a pan-India investigation into the NEET-UG paper leak case. So far, the Maharashtra police have arrested four people in the question paper leak case. The Maharashtra government decided the investigation to the central agency.
The NEET-UG paper leak issue was heard even in the ongoing monsoon session of Maharashtra Assembly on Saturday with Maharashtra Congress leaders Vijay Wadettiwar and Nana Patole terming it as injustice done to hundreds of students. In the Assembly, they asked if the State government is considering having a stringent law to deter examination paper leaks.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar assured that the State government is committed to ensure such an episode does not get repeated and the suggestion about having a stringent law will be positively considered. “Already, the Union government has issued an ordinance to prevent such malpractices in the future,” Mr. Pawar told the Assembly.
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