CBI arrests chairman of Gujarat school in NEET UG paper leak case

Dixit Patel, the Jay Jalaram Schools' chairman, was arrested on Saturday by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is looking into the possibility of cheating during the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) at the Jay Jalaram School in Godhra, Gujarat, on May 5.

The CBI requested Patel's remand in the case on Sunday by contacting the Panchmahal district court. The CBI approached the Ahmedabad Special CBI court after the judge denied the application, citing that the case was under the purview of the Ahmedabad Special CBI court.

Dixit Patel was taken into custody by the CBI late on Saturday, following the Panchmahal district court's four-day remand of four accused persons: Tushar Bhatt, Purshottam Sharma, Vibhor Anand, and Arif Vora. The four had previously been arrested by the Godhra Taluka police station in connection with a May 8 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report filed by the Panchmahal District Education Officer.

On June 27, while touring two of the same trust's facilities, in Parvadi, Godhra, and Padal (Thermal), Kheda district, the CBI recorded the statement of Patel, the Chairman of the Jay Jalaram Schools.

Patel is suspected of "being in touch with the accused, who have been earlier in the case, and was in the know" of the wrongdoing, according to the CBI's remand application. Patel is the sixth suspect in the Godhra Center's NEET-UG malpractice case to be taken into custody. The fifth arrested person, Parshuram Roy, an immigration agent and the proprietor of Roy Overseas, had not been taken into custody by the CBI.

In the course of their investigation into the purported anomalies surrounding the May 5 NEET-UG exam, a nationwide entrance exam administered by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission to UG medical programs, a special CBI team visited two private schools on Wednesday.