In the course of their investigation into the alleged Ayush admissions scam, the police have apprehended a brother duo who, in exchange for payment, assisted applicants in getting accepted to medical schools in east Uttar Pradesh.
After questioning five people, including three managers of private institutions in east UP districts, the brother team was taken into custody by the U.P. Special Task Force (STF) on Friday.
The two detained were brothers Vijay and Dharmendra Yadav from the Ghazipur district, according to a senior STF official. Through their connections, the pair, who own a private institute and a college, helped secure places for medical aspirants.
Vijay Yadav is the proprietor of Ayurvedic Medical College Hospital and Research Center, Varanasi, and a dozen of other institutions including KVS Institute of Ayurvedic Medical Science and Research Center, KSV Institute of Engineering and Technology at Madrapur and Krishna Sudama Mahavidyalaya in Ghazipur. He is also the BJP political leader of the farmers' wing in UP.
When a girl student reported to the President of India that people with worse grades than her had been admitted to high-ranking seats, the scam of bogus admission was exposed. The UP government was instructed to launch an investigation after the Union Ministry of Ayush received the complaint. This is how a significant fraud was exposed.
The counseling for 2021 admissions to Ayush colleges was conducted based on the NEET results. Altogether, 891 allocations in all were flagged as questionable. Nine of those students had never even taken the NEET exam.
The National Level Entrance Test (Ayush NEET) is administered by the Ayush Admission Central Counseling Committee (AACCC) to applicants seeking admission to undergraduate (UG) programs in Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy (AYUSH).
Police have detained 14 people in connection with the scam, including former Ayurveda director Professor SN Singh, counseling coordinator Dr. Umakant Yadav, and V3 Solutions employee Kuldeep.
The Directorate of Ayurveda suspended all 891 of the allegedly unlawfully admitted students and forbade them from sitting for the exam scheduled for June of the following year. The state government had suggested a CBI investigation into the situation.
(Input from various media sources)