Rasheed, a key suspect, wanted in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) impersonation case since 2019, surrendered before the Judicial Magistrate Court here on Thursday.
The police arrested a doctor and his son after it was found that the boy had joined the Theni Government Medical College with forged certificates. When many students were found to be involved in the scam subsequently, the case was transferred to the CB-CID police.
In all, 14 persons including some parents were arrested and imprisoned in Madurai and Theni. Courts granted bail to the accused. The High Court Bench, which was hearing bail applications of the accused, directed the media to refrain from publishing names of students. Based on confession of suspects, the police were on the lookout for the key suspect Rasheed, a native of Malapuram in Kerala. He was suspected to be living in J.P. Nagar, Bangalore. So, special teams were deputed to nab him there but they could not secure him. Under these circumstances, he surrendered before the Judicial Magistrate Panneerselvam here who remanded him to judicial custody.
He was taken to Madurai Central Prison amidst tight security, officials said. A senior officer said that they would take custody of Rasheed soon and inquire into the case based on the confessions made by students and their parents. Because Rasheed was instrumental for impersonation of many students.
He managed to send others to write the NEET examinations and got high scores, for which he had charged huge sum through brokers in Vellore, Dharmapuri, Chennai and Coimbatore, the police said.
The issue came to light when one such impersonator sent a mail to the Theni Government Medical College Dean stating that a student who had been admitted in the college had not written the NEET. Inquiries with the student revealed that the charge was true so that the authorities lodged a complaint with the police here.
