PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE /Dehradun
The Special Investigation Team (SIT)—probing the alleged use of forged freedom fighter documents to secure MBBS admissions in the NEET UG case— arrested two more people on Monday. With these arrests, the total number of the accused arrested in the case has gone up to five.
The two accused arrested on Monday were identified as Sanjay Kumar and Girish Singh. The two allegedly helped three candidates, identified as Swati, Pari and Khushi, obtain forged Aadhaar cards, domicile certificates and freedom fighter certificates to secure admission to a medical college. The police officers, involved in the investigation, said that Kumar and Singh had been paid for their role, adding that Kumar was an old acquaintance of Singh and had known him since 2007.
The superintendent of police (Rural) Jaya Baloni said that the SIT during the probe had found that the addresses mentioned in the candidates’ documents were incorrect. “The team then visited the educational institutions concerned and collected documents related to the candidates. These documents helped investigators trace their actual addresses,” she added.
The SIT had brought Kumar and Singh to Raipur police station for questioning after their names had emerged during the investigation. “Both were arrested after questioning and examination of the evidence collected in the case,” Baluni said.
The case came to light after separate complaints were received at Raipur and Clement Town police stations on September 13. The complaints were related to candidates who had allegedly applied online for Freedom Fighter Dependent Certificates using forged documents. During verification, the documents submitted by the candidates were found to be fake.
Earlier, the SIT had arrested Rupesh Pandit, Arvind Kumar and Dheeraj Kumar Srivastav in connection with the case.
Baloni said that the investigation is continuing and further action would be taken against other persons found involved in the case.
