Mumbai News: Special CBI Court Grants Bail To Doctor, Businessman In NEET 2025 Exam Racket Case

Mumbai: The special CBI court has granted bail to Sandeep Jawahar Shah, a doctor, and Salim Patel, a businessman, who were booked for running a racket to manipulate scores of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for money. The duo is accused of luring parents of NEET 2025 examinees, saying that they can help them raise their marks in lieu of Rs 90 lakh.

They were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) earlier this month, after the officials laid a trap pretending to be parents wanting admission in government colleges for their children. While seeking bail through separate applications, Shah and Patil argued that the investigation is over and no amount has been recovered from them.

The prosecution, however, asserted that the investigating officer (IO) has recorded statements of two parents revealing that the duo assured them of replacing the original OMR (answer) sheet.

Accordingly, the parents and their children went to Delhi for signing the OMR sheet, said the prosecution, adding that they disclosed that Rs 60 lakh and Rs 15 lakh were transferred through a sari showroom in the name of Gopi Cloth at Bhusawal.

The parents alleged that despite paying the hefty amounts, the children did not clear the exam and that the OMR sheet was the same as submitted at the time of exam. The money was sent from Maharashtra to Delhi through Hawala, which needs to be ascertained, said the CBI, opposing the bail plea.

It claimed that Whats app chat of the applicants reveals various names forwarded by them to other accused, who are yet to be intercepted. The court, however, noted that one of the accused Rajiv Sinha may have fled from India, while the other two are in Bihar, but untraceable.

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“Even today, the IO has nothing concrete to show when the other accused will be arrested. Merely because the other accused persons are yet to be arrested cannot be a ground for rejection of bail,” the court ruled.