New Delhi: In possibly the first criminal case under the provisions of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 — which came into effect on 21 June — the Maharashtra Police Sunday booked four individuals, including two government school teachers from the state’s Latur district, for their alleged involvement in malpractices related to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
The Maharashtra Police have arrested Jalil Umarkhan Pathan and detained Sanjay Tukaram Jadhav for questioning. Gangadhar and Iranna Kongalwar, two of their aides, have been booked but are yet to be arrested. The police have custody of Pathan until 2 July.
The four have been booked under sections 3(5) (directly or indirectly assisting the candidate in any manner as unfair means related to conduct of public examinations) and 10 (punishment between three years to five years to persons retorting to unfair means) of the new Act, and sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The case began with a preliminary investigation by the state police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad, which uncovered Jadhav and Pathan’s involvement in illegal activities related to the NEET exam.
“Our inquiry revealed that the duo had some admit cards and contacts of aspirants on their phones, which they had shared with their associate in Gurugram. There was an exchange of money for candidates’ details. Since it was not a scheduled offence under the mandate of the ATS, a complaint was filed against them at the Shivaji Nagar police station in Latur,” a Maharashtra Police official told ThePrint.
Sources in the state police further said that Gangadhar was a key person in this plan, and the deal was executed for Rs 5 lakh.
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What the new law says
Amid the ongoing controversy over the alleged leak of the question paper for the NEET-UG exam, which was held on 5 May, the government notified the law to combat the organised crime of paper leaks, which have raised concerns about the integrity of NEET and led to the cancellation of the UGC-NET examination.
The law has notified punishments for unfair means, which has been defined as any “leakage of question paper or answer key”, “directly or indirectly assisting the candidate in any manner unauthorisedly in the public examination”, and “tampering with the computer network or a computer resource or a computer system” for which the punishment is a minimum three-year jail term which can extend up to five years, and fine of up to Rs 10 lakh. For offences committed as organised crime under unfair means as part of the new law, culprits will be sentenced to prison term extending up to 10 years.
Additionally, “creation of a fake website to cheat or for monetary gain”, “conduct of fake examination, issuance of fake admit cards or offer letters to cheat or for monetary gain”, and “manipulation in seating arrangements, allocation of dates and shifts for the candidates to facilitate adopting unfair means in examinations” have also been brought under the scheduled offence under the newly-notified law.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)