NEET impersonation: HC impleads CBI as respondent in case

The Madras High Court on Wednesday impleaded the CBI as respondent in the NEET impersonation case, saying the role of coaching centres cannot be ruled out as students got admission by defrauding in the medical entrance examination held outside the state.

A division bench, comprising justices N Kirubakaran and P Velmurugan, while also raising doubts about candidates who appeared for the exam, noted that Additional Advocate General PH Arvind Pandiyan had submitted that the CB-CID has received about 19 suspected candidates’ thumb impressions from the National Testing Agency. It has to be verified whether the students who got admission were the same persons who wrote NEET, it said.

The court then directed NTA to send all details,including thumb impressions, which were taken manually, to CB-CID and file a compliance report by the next hearing, to find out if any other candidates have got admission by impersonation.

The bench noted that since the students impersonated and got admission by writing the examination outside the state, the fraud should be an all-India phenomenon and many students in various states should have got admission by impersonation. The bench restrained the media from publishing photographs or revealing identities of students who are said to have impersonated and got admission. As they are young children, their rights have to be protected and mostly the students’ role is very restricted, except to act as per the directions of their parents.

The bench was of the opinion that there should be a foolproof method by which the admission process can be done. For the purpose, the bench by itself impleaded the Director General of Health Services, Delhi, as party respondent to this proceedings and then posted the matter to October 24.