‘Attempted 165 questions, OMR shows 41’: Karnataka NEET aspirant alleges scam

“She appeared in NEET 2025 but did not do well. This time she secured 680 marks, but the exam was cancelled due to the question paper leak. She then took the re-exam. Of the 180 questions, she attempted 165, but the OMR sheet shows only 41,” her father Jagadeesh Pawar said.

Bindushree also raised other questions about the OMR sheet. “The roll number and application number are the same. The entry and exit times have been rigged. The bubbling shown on the OMR sheet is very different from how I do it. The fingerprint also seems to be overlapped,” she said.

Bindushree said she had sent three emails to the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET, and also tried reaching out to its helpline but received no response.

“It is nothing but a scam. I am worried about my daughter’s life. She has spent two years trying to get a medical seat. Looking at the student suicides, every minute I am worried. Today morning also, I read about a 19-year-old student dying by suicide in Maharashtra. As a father, don’t you panic?” Jagadeesh said.

Ankita Suresh Sangale, a resident of Jalalpur village of Maharashtra, allegedly died by suicide on Saturday after falling short of the qualifying cutoff in the NEET-UG exam.

Immediately after the results were announced on July 16, Jagadeesh and Bindushree approached P S Raju, the principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya of Haveri district, who is also the NTA’s nodal officer.

Raju told indianexpress.com that he asked the candidate to file a complaint with the NTA.

“At my level, I checked with the examination centre and other details. The signature appears to be the same, but she has alleged it has been rigged. The candidate will be directly responded to,” he added.

‘Bindushree sat for three hours in the exam centre’

District Additional Deputy Commissioner L Nagaraj told indianexpress.com, “Following a complaint, we reviewed the CCTV footage of the examination centre and found that Bindushree sat for three hours in the examination centre. We have written to the NTA’s grievance cell and are waiting for their response.”

The NEET re-exam was held on June 21. The NTA released a provisional answer key on June 25 and the OMR sheets on July 13.

Since the question paper leak led to the cancellation of the original NEET-UG exam held on May 3, as many as 20 aspirants have died by suicide across the country. As the students’ anger at the irregularities spilt into the streets and snowballed into a major controversy, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had to resign.