NEET solver gang: Cops nab 18th accused in Sarnath
VARANASI : One more member of national eligibility-cum-entrance test (NEET) solver gang was held from near Singhpur bypass in Sarnath in Varanasi on Tuesday, police said. Some original educational documents of a candidate, who appeared in the NEET examionation, were recovered from the possession of the accused, police added.
A police team comprising seven cops, including sub-inspector (SI) Suraj Kumar Tiwari, crime branch SI Rajkumar Pandey, SI Akhilesh Verma, SI Vikas Mishra, constables David, Santosh Yadav and Anugrah Verma arrested the accused identified as Dr Afroz Ahmad. A resident of Nayi Bazar Purva in Balrampur district, he was currently living in Goodluck Square Apartment in Kaiserbagh, Lucknow, said a senior police officer. After being produced in the court, the accused was sent to the jail. So far, 18 members of the NEET solver gang have been arrested while one member surrendered in the court.
The cop said Afroz, who was carrying a reward of Rs 25,000, was wanted in the case registered against the NEET solver gang in Sarnath police station. Three cases against the NEET solver gang members under various sections of the Indian penal code had been registered at Sarnath police station here after the gang was busted in September last year. Commissioner of police (CP), Varanasi, A Satish Ganesh said during interrogation Afroz told the police he took admission in MBBS course in GSVM Medical College, Kanpur, in 2010-2011 and passed out from there 2017-18.
In 2019, he was selected for the post of medical officer through Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission. Presently, he was deployed as a medical officer in Daudnagar primary health centre in Lucknow, Ganesh added. Afroz came in contact with Dr Osama and solver gang kingpin Neelesh Singh aka PK, who was arrested from Sarnath in November last year, in 2018-19. Thereafter, in 2021, he reportedly arranged solvers for four candidates and got them passed in the NEET examination, CP said.
On the NEET examination day on September 12 last year, Afroz fled to Nepal after the arrest of Julie Kumari, a BDS second year student at Banaras Hindu University, and other members of the gang for impersonation earlier that month. Later, he lived in hiding in Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and at his in-laws’ house in Amethi, said commissioner of police. The first case was registered against NEET solver gang under section 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security)/ 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating)/ 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC.