Assam Police constitutes SIT to probe JEE (Mains) proxy test scam, 5 arrested

The Joint Entrance Examination (Mains) proxy exam scam will now be probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), Assam police said.

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Guwahati: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted by the Assam police on Thursday to investigate the Joint Entrance Examination (Mains) enterance test proxy scam in which five people were arrested.

The impersonator secured 99.8 per cent marks in the exams whic took place in September.

The Commissioner of Guwahati Police M.P. Gupta said that a JEE (Main) candidate, his doctor father and three other co-conspirators were arrested on Wednesday evening and with the court`s orders on Thursday police have taken them in their custody for interrogation. "The SIT led by a senior police officer would investigate the scam. We are looking for others, if any, in the scam," Gupta told IANS.

Read: Assam student who scored 99.8% marks in JEE (Mains) arrested for using proxy

The police also approached the organiser of the JEE (Main) test, National Testing Agency (NTA), to seek information related to the examination. The centre, where the test were held on September 5, has been sealed and the management has been issued summons by the police.

Another senior police official said that a complaint was lodged with the police on October 23 claiming that a candidate for the JEE (Mains) test reportedly used a proxy candidate to appear for the test on his behalf and he secured 99.8 per cent marks with the help of an invigilator and another person besides a private coaching centre. The police did not yet divulge the full details of the scam in the interest of the probe.

"The candidate reportedly himself admitted his fraudulent act to one of his friends during a telephonic conversation which was also recorded," the police official said.

In Assam, as many as 12,803 candidates were supposed to appear in the JEE (Main) examinations in September and 11,864 candidates were to give the tests in October, but some candidates did not appear due to COVID-induced restrictions.