Fake NEET candidate, 2 aides arrested in Odisha

A person appearing as a dummy candidate for another examinee in the National Entrance and Eligibility Test (NEET) was arrested in Bhadrak. Along with him, two other associates were also arrested by the Bhadrak Rural Police.

As per police sources, three other aides of the accused in this connection are on the run.

While the arrested accused has been identified as Ankit Raja from Kolkata, his two associates are Aditya Kumar and Rajesh Kumar.

As per reports, the invigilator had doubts about one candidate while the examination was going on at a private school in Bhadrak. Subsequently, the truth about the fake candidate was revealed following a fingerprint scan which did not match the original candidate.

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Later, the examiners came to know that the original candidate was Saswat Tripathy from Mayurbhanj. However, Ankit, who was a medical student from Kolkata, allegedly appeared in the examination for Saswat. Aditya Kumar and Rajesh Kumar were allegedly the middlemen to arrange the fake candidate for the examinee.

As per police sources, a deal of Rs 10 lakh was made between the candidate and the middlemen. As many as six persons are involved in the crime. While three among them have been arrested so far, three others are reportedly on the run.

“During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that a deal of Rs 10 lakh was done between the real candidate and the middlemen to bring the fake candidate to write the examination for him. The fake candidate and two middlemen have been arrested in this connection so far,” said Bhadrak SDPO Sourabh Ota.