Samastipur police with the two arrested individuals. (image-X/Samastipur_Pol)

Samastipur, Bihar: Two men, including a doctor posted at Begusarai district jail, were arrested on Monday in Bihar’s Samastipur district for allegedly forging NEET admit cards and facilitating proxy candidates to take the prestigious medical entrance exam.

According to Samastipur Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sanjay Kumar Pandey, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) intercepted a Darbhanga-registered car near Mohanpur Bridge on Sunday after receiving a tip-off about a gang attempting to manipulate the NEET 2025 examination process across various centres.

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The occupants were identified as Rambabu Mallik of Darbhanga and Dr Ranjit Kumar, a native of Samastipur currently posted at the Begusarai district jail.

During interrogation, both men confessed to running a proxy racket, where they replaced genuine candidates with hired “scholars” for a fee ranging between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh per exam.

Police said the accused began forging admit cards as soon as the NEET application process began, fabricating photos, Aadhaar cards, signatures, and ID cards to match proxy candidates with legitimate ones.

Mallik, police said, leveraged his knowledge of the admission process—gained through his full-time job assisting with admissions at a government college in Darbhanga—to orchestrate the scheme.

A search of their mobile phones revealed incriminating WhatsApp communications, including the exchange of admit cards, photographs, Aadhaar details, and forged signatures. Police have also recovered Rs 50,000 in cash, three mobile phones, and the vehicle used in the operation.

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The accused have been booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for cheating, forgery, impersonation, and criminal conspiracy. Authorities are now expanding their investigation to identify how many proxy candidates actually appeared in the NEET exam and whether more individuals are involved.

The ASP said that further questioning of both the accused and the suspected candidates is underway to map the full scale of the racket.