New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressed concern over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the NEET row, and held that only a Supreme Court-monitored forensic probe could protect the future of numerous young students.

Kharge alleged that the Modi Government was attempting to cover up the NEET scam through Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the National Testing Agency (NTA).

"If the paper was not leaked in NEET then -- why were 13 accused arrested in Bihar due to paper leak? Did the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Patna police not expose the payment of Rs 30 Lakh-Rs 50 Lakh to the education mafia and organised gangs involved in the racket in exchange for papers?" he shared on his X handle. 

He further questioned, "Has NEET-UG cheating racket not been busted in Godhra, Gujarat? In which three people are involved including a person running a coaching centre, a teacher and another person and according to Gujarat Police, transactions of more than Rs 12 Crore have come to light between the accused?"

He added that the 'Modi Government' has crushed the aspirations of 24 lakh youth who work hard day and night and strive for the one lakh medical seats.

He alleged "out of these 1 lakh seats, around 55,000 are in government colleges where seats are reserved for SC, ST, OBC, EWS categories. This time the Modi government has misused the NTA and has massively rigged the marks and ranks, due to which the cut-off for reserved seats has also increased."

In addition, Pawan Khera, the head of Congress' media and publicity department, compared the NEET scam to the Vyapam controversy and charged that the Modi administration was downplaying the incident. In the 2013 Vyapam or Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board scandal, candidates bought off officials and used exam rigging by having someone else submit their answers in place of the legitimate applicants. 

Khera questioned PM Modi and Pradhan if the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the Patna Police (Bihar), which is looking into the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak, has discovered that medical candidates paid 'brokers' involved in the racket large sums of money, ranging from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh each, to obtain question papers prior to the exam on May 5?

"Can the Education Minister deny that a NEET-UG cheating racket has been busted in Gujarat's Godhra involving three people including a person who runs coaching centre, a teacher and one another, wherein the investigation in the case has revealed transaction worth over Rs 12 Crore between students, their parents and the accused?" he said.

He asked, isn't it unusual that the proportion of students with scores higher than 690 increased drastically this year? Nearly 67 top students achieved the perfect score of 720, compared to just two students the year before.

"Is it not true that multiple NEET-UG 2024 toppers belong to the same State and have similar roll numbers? Were they from the same examination centres?" he said. He continued to ask isnt it true that the results of the exam declared 10 days prior. 

"PM Modi cannot always remain a mute spectator. Why is he silent when the future of 24 lakh youngsters is at stake?" he said.

"The complete result of last year and this year of students scoring 580 plus should be made public by NTA if the Modi Government claims that the entire examination process is transparent. The centres of students scoring 580 plus should also be made public to see how many students travelled far off from their place to take the NEET exam," he added.

Khera said the board marks should also be correlated with NEET marks for last year and this year to cross check how the data matches. 

"The videos of centres where there are major high scorers must be released so that this scam can be identified as OMR was filled after exam or at NTA office or some impersonation happened so that the truth comes out," he said.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court was informed by the Centre and the NTA that the grace marks granted to 1,563 applicants who took the exam in order to be admitted to MBBS and other similar programmes had been revoked.

The Centre had stated that they will be given the choice to retake the test or forgo the bonus points that were given to them for time. PTI