The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) in Parwadi village of Godhra, Gujarat, on Saturday arrested Dixit Patel, chairman of Jai Jalaram School. The CBI on Sunday approached the Panchmahal District Court seeking Patel’s remand in the case. However, the court rejected the application saying that the case falls under the jurisdiction of the special CBI court, after which the CBI approached the special CBI court in Ahmedabad.
The CBI arrested Dixit Patel late Saturday night, hours after the Panchmahal district court granted four-day remand to four accused—Tushar Bhatt, Purushottam Sharma, Vibhor Anand and Arif Vora—who were earlier arrested by the Godhra taluka police station in an FIR filed by the Panchmahal district education officer on May 8.
School teacher arrested from Godhra
The CBI had recorded the statement of Patel, the president of Jai Jalaram School, on June 27 when it visited two centres run by the same trust at Parwadi in Godhra and Padal (Thermal) in Kheda district. Panchmahal officials said the CBI arrested Patel late Saturday night and completed the formalities of medical examination at the Godhra Civil Hospital.
In the remand application, the CBI has said that Patel is “suspected to be in touch with the accused, who are already in the case, and was aware of the irregularities”. Patel is the sixth accused to be arrested in the NEET-UG irregularities at the Godhra centre.
CBI’s eye on private schools
The CBI did not seek custody of the fifth arrested accused – Parshuram Roy, an immigration agent and owner of Roy Overseas. On Thursday, the CBI had recorded the statements of at least six local students from Gujarat who had approached the accused for alleged manipulation in the NEET exam at the centre. The CBI also recorded the statements of school owner Dixit Patel as well as other staff of the school in Godhra and its other school in Padal in Kheda district.
On Wednesday, a special CBI team visited two private schools as part of its probe into the alleged NEET-UG irregularities on May 5
