At least 16 students from far-flung states like Odisha, Jharkhand and Karnataka have each spent Rs. 10 lakh and are suspected to have chosen Jai Jalaram School in Parwadi village in Panchmahal’s Godhra taluk outside Gujarat as their centre. On Saturday, the prosecution informed the Godhra court seeking 14-day judicial custody of accused Parasuram Roy.
The court ordered to remand Roy, one of the three arrested in the case, in police custody till May 20 after considering a 22-count custody petition filed at Godhra taluka police station. Roy, owner of Vadodara-based immigration firm Roy Overseas, “expressed his willingness to become a witness” to help the prosecution.
Based on the custodial plea, the police told the court that out of at least 26 students who allegedly “approached the accused”, 16 were from Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Karnataka, but they had chosen Godhra’s Jai Jalaram School as the center for the examination.
Names of 26 students were found in two lists recovered from Tushar Bhatt, the school’s geography teacher and superintendent of the NEET centre, who is the prime accused in the case, during a search at the district education department’s center on May 5.
Panchamahal district public prosecutor Rakesh Thakur said, “The magistrate considered our argument that it was unusual for 16 students from distant states like Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Karnataka to choose a center in a village like Parvathi in Godhra…
He argued that an inquiry should be conducted as to who recommended these students to choose Godhra instead of centers nearer to their residences.
“Some of these 16 students have traveled over 1,000 km from Odisha and Jharkhand to appear at this center and their names are on the list of suspected irregularities…” he added.
