punjab

Updated: Jan 24, 2018 13:32 IST

Even as the results of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test – Post Graduate (NEET PG) 2018 were declared on Tuesday, a number of aspirants for the seats of doctor of medicine (MD) and master of surgery (MS) degrees from the region alleged they have been receiving calls from ‘agents’ offering to improve their ranks upon payment of money in lakhs.

What was shocking for the candidates that the caller had access to the details such as their enrollment and Aadhaar card numbers, thus hinting towards the possibility of an insider.

The caller had been making calls from different numbers and names.

The caller was demanding Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to improve the rank of a candidate and the cost varied as per the rank required by the aspirant.

The caller, claiming to be a data operator at National Board of Examination (NBE), New Delhi, claimed to be aware of the rank of the candidates, besides having access to the entire results before these were declared.

The caller was demanding Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to improve the rank of a candidate and the cost varied as per the rank required by the aspirant.

He is also giving his SBI bank account numbers, wherein candidates can transfer money. A number of candidates from various districts of Punjab, who appeared for the entrance examination on January 7, have claimed to have received such calls.

On its part, the NBE had issued an advisory that applicants should not be misled by such bogus calls. The NBE advisory came after it received several complaints in this regard. On Tuesday, a Ludhiana-based candidate Bhupesh (name changed) received a call from a person, claiming to be a data operator at NBE, who demanded Rs 5 lakh for improving his rank.

In the audio recording available with the aspirant, the caller can be heard saying that he is a data operator with the NBE and has been uploading the results. “He said he found that my rank is above 20,000 and demanded Rs 5 lakh to improve the rank,” the aspirant said.

“The caller asked me to deposit the 50% of the amount in his account today and the remaining after the results that he said will be declared on January 31,” he added.

The candidate said he is not alone to have received such a call. He showed several videos of different aspirants belonging to Shimla and parts of Madhya Pradesh, which were viral on the social media. In a video on Facebook, when an aspirant asked the charges for getting Rank 1, the caller demanded Rs 10 lakh.

HT procured three recordings from different aspirants in which names and mobile numbers of the caller were different, but the voice was the same. Moreover, in all the three recordings he claimed to be data operator at NBE.

“Not only did he promise to improve ranks, he also was well-versed with our roll numbers and Aadhaar details, much to our dismay,” a candidate said. The NBE conducted the NEET entrance exam on January 7. The exam was conducted at different centres managed by private firm iON Digital across the country.