On Saturday, police arrested four individuals from a city bar for their involvement in a large-scale inter-state MBBS admission scam targeting private medical colleges. The accused are Priyadarshi Kumar from Jharkhand, Arvind Kumar from Bihar, and locals Sunil Samantray and Rudra Narayan Behera from Odisha.
Authorities caught the group while they attempted to broker illegal admissions for NEET aspirants through proxy candidates. According to Police Commissioner S Dev Datta Singh, the racket operated across Odisha, Bihar, and Jharkhand, promising guaranteed medical college admissions in exchange for hefty payments ranging from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 30 lakh per candidate, collected in instalments.
The police revealed the operation was well-organized, with scouts receiving Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for identifying potential candidates. The syndicate manipulated admit cards and arranged for proxy candidates to appear for NEET exams, exploiting examination centers to facilitate impersonation.
Raids yielded significant evidence including documents of several candidates, forged NRI sponsorship certificates, three cheques totaling Rs 90 lakh, a blank cheque suspected to belong to an aspirant, two cars, and papers related to two plots.
Analysis of mobile phone data showed extensive communication and financial transactions linked to the illegal admission network. The investigation is ongoing, and police expect more arrests as they continue to dismantle this fraudulent operation. A special task force has been formed to probe similar scams in other states, working in coordination with medical education authorities to curb these illicit activities.
