NEET malpractice: Prime accused arrested, ’14 cheques’ recovered from immigration agency set police on aspirants’ trail

According to Godhra Deputy Superintendent of Police NV Patel, 14 cheques have been recovered from the office of Vadodara-based immigration agency Roy Overseas’ owner Parshuram Roy who is in police custody until May 20.

“During a search at the office of Roy Overseas, we recovered 14 signed cheques that were given as advance to Roy by the students, who were seeking malpractice to clear NEET with merit rank. The cheques issued were of amounts ranging from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 10 lakh… These are cheques taken as safety by the accused although the final payment was to be made in cash and the cheques were to be returned to the students after receiving the payment,” investigating officer Patel said.

However, he added, the plan was busted before they could indulge in the malpractice. “We have also recovered incriminating WhatsApp Chats between Roy and the students in touch with him for the malpractice… Roy also shared the students’ list with Bhatt in connected conversations.” Roy has pleaded before the court to be made a witness in the case.

Patel said the police have now begun tracking down the students who are suspected to have established contact with Roy through a network of immigration agents. “Roy has been in the business of overseas immigration and student counselling for over 20 years and it is common for agents to be part of a network of other agents… Therefore, it is not surprising that Roy had students approaching him from far off states like Odisha and Jharkhand,” he said.
The police are also probing the involvement of other touts in the network. “…that can be ascertained when we get through to the students. We have begun gathering their details and addresses in order to dispatch teams for the same,” the DySP said.

Meanwhile, the Panchmahal police informed the local court Monday that Bhatt — a geography teacher at Jai Jalaram School in Parvadi village of Godhra taluka and who was the Superintendent of the NEET exam centre on May 5 — is the prime accused in the case.

Seeking 14-days custody of Bhatt and his accomplice, Godhra resident Vohra, the police said Bhatt held the key to the investigation as Rs 7 lakh cash was recovered from his vehicle by education department officials who had raided the centre on May 5. The police informed the court that since Bhatt has claimed that Vohra allegedly handed over the cash to him along with the names of the six students, it was a matter of investigation to ascertain the identities of the students. Police also informed the court that the accused needed to be brought together to probe their nexus and to ascertain if “they had indulged in such an act earlier”.