Cops identify mastermind of NEETsolvers’ gang, raid his Patna house

Varanasi: Police in pursuit of the NEET solvers’ gang traced the mastermind and conducted a raid at his Patna residence, but he escaped with his family before the team reached there.
Varanasi Police is also in touch with their counterparts in Tripura for the arrest of the girl Heena Biswas for whom an impersonator Juli Kumari was appearing in NEET on September 12 and was arrested along with her mother Babita.
Two more members of the gang were arrested on Saturday increasing the number of arrests to six.
Varanasi police commissioner A Satish Ganesh said on Sunday, “The kingpin of the solvers’ gang is one Neelesh Kumar, also known as Prem Kumar alias PK by his gang. Neelesh hails from Chhapra, Bihar, but lives in a luxurious house in Patna and he is fond of owning precious cars. His neighbours in the colony know that he is a doctor. We traced him and our team raided his residence, but he managed to escape with his family.”
Meanwhile, the cops arrested two more gang members, Vikas Kumar Mahto of Khagadia and Raju Kumar of Jahanabad on Saturday evening with documents, Aadhaar and admit cards of many aspirants, two mobile phones and a laptop.
Vikas said he met Neelesh three years ago when the latter assured him that he could get him a government job with the help of an impersonator. Vikas later started working for Neelesh.
Vikas revealed the gang used to get contracts for arranging solvers through aides in Lucknow, Bengaluru, Tripura, Bihar and other states.
Vikas told police that the aspirants used to deposit money in the bank account of Neelesh’s father and other members. The gang also kept the original certificates of the aspirants before taking the contract.
Each solver was paid Rs five lakh for appearing in the exam, he said.
The gang charged Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh from the aspirants if they got admission.
The other accused Raju owns a photo studio and joined the gang through Vikas in 2019. He was paid Rs 2,000 for mixing the photographs of each aspirant and impersonator.
The two accused have divulged names of many other gang members and teams have been formed for their arrest, the police commissioner said.
On September 12, crime branch cops had raided NEET exam centre at St Francis Xavier School at Sona Talab in Sarnath police station area and had caught Juli and her mother Babita Devi of Patna, while Vikas had managed to escape.
An FIR was lodged under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 34 of IPC against them.
On September 14, police had arrested KGMU medico Dr Osama Shahid and Abhay Kumar Mehta of the gang.