CBI arrests Maharashtra doctor involved in NEET UG 2025 marks manipulation racket

A doctor and unnamed officials of the national testing agency (NTA) have been arrested by CBI in the NEET UG 2025 marks manipulation racket. ⁠The doctor has been identified as Dr Sandeep Jawahar Shah from Solapur in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. According to officials, a sting operation was conducted on June 9, 2025 by CBI team, which confirmed a conspiracy to alter NEET-UG scores of ineligible candidates in exchange for hefty bribes.

Shah was caught during a verification exercise by CBI officers posing as parents, at the ITC Grand Central hotel in Parel, Mumbai, where he allegedly demanded Rs 87.5 lakh after negotiation. Two independent witnesses were present during the operation. The accused Dr Shah is a partner in a firm named Indi Biosearch and was allegedly running a parallel business of academic fraud.

As per the investigation, Shah had made contacts with NTA officials and offered to upgrade the NEET scores of students who failed to qualify, thereby enabling them to secure admission in government medical colleges for Rs 90 lakhs. The payment was to be made in two instalments, with manipulated marks promised six hours prior to the official NEET-UG 2025 result announcement. This incident comes barely a year after NEET-UG 2024 was marred by multiple controversies from paper leak allegations to many students scoring perfect marks.

While Supreme Court had ordered retest for 1563 students and the revised results dropped the number of toppers from 67 to 17. Infact, the Ministry of Education faced massive backlash last year and later had promised tighter systems and transparency. The CBI in a press release clearly stated that "While last year’s irregularities were painted as procedural mishaps or technical lapses, the 2025 case suggests active collusion and criminal intent. The involvement of NTA insiders, if proven, could force a serious re-evaluation of the autonomous testing agency’s integrity."