‘Went for exam with aim of becoming a doctor,’ says student given fake hall ticket

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A student caught with a fake hall ticket while appearing for the NEET exam said that he had gone to write the exam with the intention of becoming a doctor, but got a one-day police station stay. D R Jithu (20) of Parassala in Thiruvananthapuram lost his one year’s opportunity due to the fraud of an Akshaya Center employee.

Jithu said that he is happy that his innocence has been proved and that he will continue to study. Jithu added that if there are no other legal problems, he will write NEET again and become a doctor. Jithu had written the NEET exam after completing Plus Two. However, realizing that proper training was needed, he joined a coaching center in Thiruvananthapuram in June last year. Despite being from a poor family, Jithu's mother Ramani spent about Rs 2.5 lakh for training to fulfill her son's dream of becoming a veterinary doctor. She never even dreamt that she would fall for such a scam. Jithu’s mother Ramani is a last grade employee of Karakonam Medical College. His father is sick. Despite appearing for the exam with complete confidence, he was cheated by an Akshaya Center employee.

Meantime, the Pathanamthitta police have arrested Greeshma (20), the employee of Akshaya Center in Neyyattinkara, for forging a fake hall ticket. Greeshma confessed to the crime when the Pathanamthitta police took her into custody yesterday morning. Greeshma received the fee of Rs 1850 but she had forgotten to submit the application form. When they asked for the hall ticket, she revealed that she took the hall ticket of a student named Abhiram in the name of Jithu and then made some changes on it and sent it on WhatsApp. Greeshma thought that they will not go to write the exam if she chose a center far away. When she searched on Google, she found Marthoma Higher Secondary School, which was the center of last year in Pathanamthitta. She added it in the hall ticket, but the barcode and certificate could not be corrected. This led to the fraud being exposed.