Court grants bail to two arrested in NEET fraud

Hindustan Times

5 hours ago

MUMBAI: A special CBI court has granted bail to Sandeep Shah and Salim Patel, who were arrested by the agency earlier this month for allegedly taking money from medical aspirants by promising admission. The court observed that nothing has been brought on record against the accused to show that they will not be available for trial. (Shutterstock)
As per the CBI, the duo along with others allegedly promised to influence the officials of National Testing Agency (NTA) to manipulate the score of NEET UG 2025 exams to ensure admission in government medical colleges. The agency alleged that Shah and Patel along with another person, Javed Patel, received ₹ 75 lakh and ₹ 32 lakh through hawala channel.
The counsel, representing Shah and Patel, submitted that the investigation was completed and their custodial interrogation was not required. They said that the duo will not tamper with the prosecution evidence and will be available for trial.
The CBI opposed the plea, submitting that Patel introduced Shah to two persons - Neeraj Kumar and Prem Ranjan from Bihar - as National Testing Agency (NTA) officers, who are yet to be intercepted.
The two accused were arrested after police officers, pretending to be parents of medical aspirants, called up Shah, who allegedly demanded 90 lakh per candidate to be paid to NTA officials for manipulating the NEET marks. The court, however, said that 'there is no specific reference of ₹ 90 lakh per candidate or settlement of ₹ 87.5 lakh in the transcript'.
The special sessions judge, VP Desai, in an order passed on June 21, had observed that the investigating agency neither recovered any cash nor any Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets from the men during police custody. The court said, 'Even today, the investigating officer has nothing concrete to show that till what period the other accused will be arrested. Merely because the other accused persons are yet to be arrested cannot be a ground for rejection of the bail.'
The court further said that the punishment prescribed under the prevention of corruption act is not less than three years, adding that 'discretion in the nature of bail can be exercised in favour of the applicant on certain terms and conditions'.