Assam JEE topper, who scored 99.8 per cent in exam arrested for using proxy

Guwahati, Oct 28: Assam Joint Entrance Exam topper Neel Nakshatra Das, who scored 99.8 percentile, his father Dr Jyotirmoy Das and three other persons arrested for allegedly using proxy to write, during the examination held in September this year.

"Assam Joint Entrance Exam topper Neel Nakshatra Das, his father Dr. Jyotirmoy Das and three other persons arrested for allegedly using a proxy to write the exam," ANI quoted MP Gupta Commissioner of Police Guwahati, Assam, as saying.

Along with them, three employees of a testing facility - Hamendra Nath Sarma, Pranjal Kalita, and Hirulal Pathak - have been arrested, the Guwahati police said. All the accused will be produced before the local court on Thursday.

The arrests were made after a complaint was lodged with the police alleging that the candidate did not appear for the test held on September 5 and someone else had written the examination on his behalf at a centre in Guwahati, police said.

A person identified as Mitradev Sharma lodged the complaint on October 23.

He said that the candidate scored 99.8 per cent in the JEE-Mains, an entrance examination for admission to engineering colleges. The police constituted a special investigation team to probe the allegation and the five were arrested subsequently.

The police did not divulge the role of the three persons, who were nabbed besides the candidate and his father, in the incident.

The candidate admitted this fraud to a friend during a phone call which was recorded, police said.

However, the connection between the friend and the complainant was also not clear.

Sharma alleged that on the day of the exam, the candidate entered the specified centre at Borjhar area, but came out after completing the biometric attendance with the help of an invigilator and another person wrote the exam.

It was also alleged that a private coaching institute in Guwahati was involved in the incident.

The police have approached the National Testing Agency, which conducted the test across the country, and sought information related to the JEE Mains to help them in their investigations.