Man who appeared on behalf of JEE Mains 'topper' from Assam arrested from Delhi

The Assam police on Sunday arrested the most wanted proxy candidate, Pradip Kumar, who had written the Joint Entrance Examination (Mains) 2020 for Neel Nakshatra Das, who secured 99.8% marks and became one of the toppers in the all India engineering entrance test, officials said.

Police said that Kumar was arrested in Delhi and would be brought to Guwahati to be produced before the court.

Police suspect Kumar to be a professional "proxy candidate".

On November 1, police had arrested a coaching centre owner Bhargav Deka, another prime accused in the JEE (Mains) examination impersonation case in which the Assam police so far have arrested seven people.

The others arrested in the case are Neel Nakshatra Das, who 'topped' the examination in the state and at present out on bail, his doctor father Jyotirmoy Das, a woman employee of the coaching institute and three other alleged accomplices.

The woman employee was arrested on October 31 and the five others on October 28.

The Assam government had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) led by Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), Guwahati, Suprotive Lal Baruah, to probe the scam.

"Several people are suspected to be involved in the misconduct and the inquiry is on to unearth the full racket," a police official said.

The police have approached the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducted the JEE (Mains) across the country in January and September, and sought information related to the examination.

The examination centre, where the September 5 test was held, has been sealed and the management has been summoned by the police.

Another senior police officer said that a complaint was lodged with the police on October 23 claiming that a candidate for the JEE (Mains) reportedly used a proxy candidate to appear for the test on his behalf and he secured 99.8% marks with the help of an invigilator and another person besides a private coaching centre.

The police did not yet divulge the full details of the scam in the interest of the probe.

"The candidate reportedly himself admitted to his fraudulent act to one of his friends during a telephonic conversation which was also recorded," the police officer said.

The October 23 complaint claimed that on the day of the examination on September 5, the candidate entered the specified centre at Borjhar area (in Guwahati), but subsequently left the exam hall after completing the biometric attendance and other formalities with the help of an invigilator and another person.

"After the original candidate walked out of the testing centre, his proxy candidate filled up the computer-based answers," the police said.

In Assam, 12,803 and 11,864 candidates were supposed to appear in the JEE (Mains) in September and October, respectively, but some candidates did not sit for the test due to the Covid-induced situations.

(With IANS inputs)