HC seeks Centre’s response on plea for SIT probe into NEET 2016

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the response of the Centre and the police on a plea seeking a court-monitored CBI or SIT probe into the alleged illegalities in the National Eligibility Entrance Test held in 2016 for admitting students in postgraduate medical courses.

The high court also issued notice to the National Board of Examination (NBE), the Medical Council of India, M/s Prometrics Private Ltd and the CBI on a plea which sought to hand over the case to the probe agency.

M/s Prometrics Private Ltd had sub-contracted with CMS IT Services Private Ltd to hire engineers, site supervisors and other staff to prepare exam labs for conducting NEET PG examination at 43 centres across the country.

The court also expressed concern over the delay in concluding the investigation and said “this is a very serious matter. Therefore, the authorities need to file their status report/response in one week”.

The court, which listed the matter for further hearing on September 10, was hearing a petition filed by Dr Anand Rai, who claims to be the whistleblower in Vyapam scam.

The CBI’s special standing counsel Rajdeepa Behura said the police’s crime branch was already investigating the matter in which an FIR has been lodged and charge sheet filed.

An FIR was lodged on February 1 against 11 persons and charge sheet was filed on July 9 this year under various sections of the IPC including 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) and under the Information and Technology Act.

The plea sought transfer of investigation from the crime branch to Special Investigative Team (SIT) comprising members having expertise in Computer Science and/or an investigation by the CBI.