Govt playing with future of youth: Ashok Gehlot on NEET irregularities

Ashok Gehlot said the National Testing Agency's (NTA) decision to cancel the examination and hand over the probe to the CBI was a bold step taken in the interest of students.

Jaipur: Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said the cancellation of the NEET (UG) examination indicated large-scale irregularities in the test and accused the BJP government in the state of trying to suppress the matter for two weeks.

Gehlot alleged that the government had "played with the future of youth" by attempting to hide information related to the alleged paper leak.

He said the National Testing Agency's (NTA) decision to cancel the examination and hand over the probe to the CBI was a bold step taken in the interest of students.

"BJP government in Rajasthan had earlier tried to conceal the OMR sheet scam in the Rajasthan Staff Selection Board to avoid embarrassment to the government. Weak legal representation in the case resulted in the accused securing bail," he claimed.

"Information related to the NEET (UG) paper leak was also suppressed and no FIR was registered initially," he said.

Gehlot said the truth had now come out and the real face of the BJP government had been exposed.

Vishal Bansal, Additional Director General (ADG) of the Rajasthan Police's SOG, had said on Monday that a probe is currently focused on a "guess paper" that was allegedly circulated among students ahead of the examination.

"Regarding the various misconceptions surrounding the NEET examination, let me clarify one specific point: there is a guess paper containing approximately 410 questions. Out of these, it is alleged that roughly 120 questions appeared in Chemistry," Bansal had said.

While the Chemistry paper in the exam carries 45 questions, the test used four sets of question papers.

"It is reported that this guess paper had been circulating among the students well in advance; it began reaching them as early as 15 days to a month prior to the actual examination. We are investigating on the basis of the guess paper and it is also available in open domain," he had said.

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was conducted by the NTA on May 3 for students seeking admission to medical education courses at the undergraduate level.