We did no wrong in applying in two states: Topper’s family

His father Arif Abdul Raheman, a professor himself, said that Ashfaq was very much eligible to apply for counselling in Tamil Nadu, since he was born and brought up here.

“His entire schooling was here. We applied in Kerala since his mother is a Malayali and there was provision to do so in Kerala. We have not done anything that is not permissible. If at all we need to be pulled up, it should have been done by the Kerala government, but they were alright with the application. They had listed my son’s name in the rank list. We are not at fault, even police and officials have found no wrong in our conduct. But he has been projected like a fraudster, without a thought about his future,” he said. 

Arif also said that he was aware of the provision of applying two states last year itself. Activist Narayanan, founder of Change.org, said that he supports NEET, but not the confusion being played out now. “A check at the NEET application level would have prevented students from applying in more than one state.” Narayanan also said that exploiting the nativity certificate option by students of other states, to get seats under government quota in Tamil Nadu has been happening for a long time. “In a way it’s good that NEET has projected the issue at least now,” he said.