Evidence shows more people involved in test racket, Gujarat court told

VADODARA: The scope of CBI's probe into the NEET-UG malpractice case in Gujarat has widened with evidence emerging of more people being involved in the racket than initially presumed, CBI told a Godhra court Friday while seeking custody of four out of five suspects arrested by police.

Since taking over the Godhra case, CBI has inspected multiple NEET centres and residences of the accused. Several people have been interrogated, including parents of students whose names figure among those suspected of having paid large amounts of money in exchange for leaked questions and answer keys.

Godhra, headquarters of Panchmahal district, was the suspected epicentre of the racket. CBI counsel told the court that students were "induced" into picking Gujarati as their preferred language for the test and Godhra as the centre. CBI said the modus operandi of those involved in the racket was the same last year.

The centres where the malpractice occurred were Jay Jalaram School in Godhra and another near Wanakbori. Both are run by Dixit Patel, who was among those questioned Thursday by CBI. The four arrested men whose custody CBI has sought are Arif Vahora, Purshottam Sharma, Vibhor Anand and Tushar Bhatt.

The CBI counsel said interrogating the quartet was crucial to identifying and rounding up many others who allegedly conspired with them, specifically those who may have introduced willing students and their guardians to the perpetrators of the paper leak. The court is scheduled to give its verdict on the plea Saturday.