Many suspect there could be a huge racket behind this (Representational)
A first year medical student at the Theni Government Medical College in Tamil Nadu has been booked for alleged impersonation to secure medical admission.
Investigators say the Chennai-based student had allegedly asked a proxy to take the National Eligibility Entrance Test or NEET, who also appeared for medical counseling to secure admission after cracking the test.
The alleged fraud came to light after the Dean of the college received information by e-mail after which he probed the issue and alerted the police.
Police have filed a case of impersonation, cheating and criminal conspiracy. A police officer told NDTV, "We have not made any arrest so far. We are investigating. The proxy candidate had taken NEET in Mumbai. The medico's father too we understand is a doctor, working at the Stanley Medical College Hospital."
Many suspect there could be a huge racket behind this.
A student counsellor, who did not want to be named, told NDTV, "There appears to be lapses at several levels, from the NEET centre to the high powered counseling in Chennai. There is big money behind this. To make things worse and opaque, the earlier transparent statewide ranking of those who had cleared NEET has been done away with leading to a situation even qualified candidates opt-out and block seats in private colleges out of fear of losing the race. There are few other deliberate bottlenecks harassing high ranking medical aspirants with a view to enable low ranking students rise up in ranking and to enable private medical colleges and universities fill up their seats with highest bidders."
The state government or the Health Minister is yet to respond on this issue.