Weeks before the declaration of results of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), the parents in twin cities and across Chhattisgarh are bombarded with calls from agents and brokers promising seats in medical colleges. The seats are being offered by the agents for Rs 15 lakh each and the cyber crime rackets are trying to con the NEET aspirants on pretext of admissions in private as well as government medical colleges. ‘The Hitavada’ too contacted one such broker who audaciously promised a medical seat in any of the medical colleges in State on payment of Rs 15 lakh, claiming further that with the help of his internal sources and manipulation he will easily increase the marks obtained by the NEET appeared candidate which will ensure the admission.

It is suspected that the phone numbers of the parents are either being circulated by coaching institutions or by hacking online the NEET entrant applications process. Though the agents have been targeting the parents, who too are surprised on receiving such calls from random numbers, the concerned authorities are yet to take measures to curb qualified candidates from falling prey to such tactics. So far, the police and the administration is yet to issue any warning or advisory for the parents so that they don’t fall prey to any such frauds and it is very likely that the parents willing to get their child enrolled in medical institutions at any cost may easily get victimised with the lucrative but deceitful offers being given by the brokers and agents. A day ago on Wednesday, the Editor of a newspaper also received such call from one of the agents who pretended to be Gopal Singh and dared to offer him a medical seat on payment of money. Meanwhile, when ‘The Hitavada’ scribe contacted on his number, the person attending the call introduced himself as a placement agency employee and demanded Rs 15 lakh for admission in the medical college. He even sent the list of documents required for admissions on WhatsApp and said that admission will be possible once he verifies it. Posing as parent of the NEET aspirant when we tried to enquire about the process, he assured that with the help of his internal sources, he will manage to arrange a medical seat. His audacity can be gauged from the fact that he even went on claiming/admitting that in the year 2021 too, he had managed admissions of 20 candidates in medical colleges in states like Rajasthan, Assam and Chhattisgarh. When contacted, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Crime) Nasar Siddiqui over the issue, he said that police usually take legal actions on receipt of the complaint adding that detection is the best prevention. He said that on receiving any such offer, the concerned person must immediately approach the police. The DSP also said that people should ignore such calls and messages.