top of page

By:

Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 9:59:04 pm

Hidden Questions

For six years, the Disha Salian case has remained trapped in a fog of unanswered questions, disputed narratives and institutional inaction. It appears that the fog is now finally beginning to lift. The CBI’s recent FIR has brought into the investigation a startling array of names including Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and MLA Aaditya Thackeray, his father, Sena (UBT) chief and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Dino Morea, Sooraj Pancholi, Rhea Chakraborty, Sachin Vaze, Param Bir Singh, and...

Hidden Questions

For six years, the Disha Salian case has remained trapped in a fog of unanswered questions, disputed narratives and institutional inaction. It appears that the fog is now finally beginning to lift. The CBI’s recent FIR has brought into the investigation a startling array of names including Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and MLA Aaditya Thackeray, his father, Sena (UBT) chief and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Dino Morea, Sooraj Pancholi, Rhea Chakraborty, Sachin Vaze, Param Bir Singh, and former home minister Anil Deshmukh. The allegations being investigated include conspiracy, destruction or suppression of evidence and an alleged attempt to establish a false narrative around Salian’s death. For Aaditya and the MVA, the instinctive political response will be to dub the CBI’s fresh probe as ‘vendetta’ and portray the investigation as an assault on the Thackeray family. But such a response would evade the much larger question of why this case was allowed to remain where it was for so long? At the very least, the filing of the FIR against the Thackerays’ and others lays bare the failure on part of the erstwhile MVA government headed by Uddhav Thackeray to properly investigate the case. This aspect cannot be wished away now by invoking political persecution as the Bombay High Court’s intervention has itself exposed the extraordinary manner in which the matter was handled. For years, Salian’s death remained an accidental-death case rather than being subjected to the kind of criminal investigation demanded by the allegations surrounding it. Her family has repeatedly sought a CBI probe only to be rebuffed by the previous Maharashtra government headed by Uddhav Thackeray. If the Thackeray-led MVA government had nothing to fear, why was a transparent investigation not pursued with greater urgency? If there was no attempt to protect anyone, why were questions about the circumstances of Salian’s death allowed to accumulate rather than being conclusively answered? And if there was no political sensitivity involved, why did the machinery of government appear so reluctant to let an independent agency examine the matter? The more aggressively the Opposition cries “vendetta,” the more obvious another question becomes: what exactly is it afraid the investigation might uncover? Aaditya Thackeray’s political inheritance cannot become an institutional exemption. Being Balasaheb Thackeray’s grandson may provide a formidable political surname; it cannot provide immunity from scrutiny. The CBI must be allowed to pursue every lead, examine every witness, reconstruct every missing link and establish the truth as to what happened to Disha Salian. If the allegations against anyone are false, the investigation should establish that too. But if wrongdoing has occurred, then those responsible must face the consequences. After six years, neither political power nor a famous surname can be allowed to stand between the investigation and the truth.

Broken Merit

Correspondent
May 13
2 min read

While India’s examination system has suffered leaks before, the cancellation of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2026 affecting more than 22 lakh students, represents the industrialisation of academic fraud. It signifies that former instances of isolated cheating have now acquired the architecture of organised crime.


The details emerging from the investigation are alarming not merely because a question paper was leaked, but because of the sophistication with which it appears to have travelled across India. According to investigators, the NEET paper circulated nearly 45 hours before the examination through encrypted messaging platforms, Telegram networks, portable scanners and shadow servers. The scandal began in Maharashtra’s Nashik before spreading through coaching circuits in Rajasthan, Haryana, Bihar, Kerala and beyond, resembling a black-market supply chain.


At the centre of the scam is a 30-year-old BAMS student from Nashik, accused of purchasing the leaked paper for Rs. 10 lakh and selling it onward for Rs. 15 lakh. Elsewhere, Rajasthan’s Special Operations Group arrested 15 individuals, including alleged masterminds linked to consultancy centres in Sikar, one of India’s most intense coaching hubs. Sikar, like Kota, has become emblematic of India’s examination-industrial complex, where aspiration is monetised at staggering scale.

The most troubling aspect of the scandal is the institutional frailty it exposes. Teachers in Rajasthan reportedly identified extraordinary overlaps between the leaked PDFs and the actual examination paper, and yet local police initially refused to register a complaint. Action only gathered pace after escalation to the National Testing Agency, the Intelligence Bureau and Rajasthan’s SOG. This reflects a chronic Indian ailment that institutions react only after scandal becomes impossible to suppress.


For millions of students, the consequences are devastating. NEET is a gateway to medicine, one of the few professions still viewed by many middle-class and lower-middle-class Indian families as a path to security, prestige and upward mobility. Aspirants spend years preparing for it, enduring punishing schedules, social isolation and immense psychological strain. A leaked paper corrodes faith in merit itself. That corrosion is dangerous in a country whose social contract increasingly rests upon competitive exams.


India has witnessed repeated paper leaks across recruitment and entrance examinations, from constable tests to teacher eligibility exams. Yet the leaks persist because the incentives remain enormous and the risks comparatively low. A single medical seat can transform a family’s fortunes. That creates a lucrative market for intermediaries willing to weaponize technology and desperation alike.


The NTA, established in 2017 to professionalise entrance examinations, now faces a credibility crisis. Conducting massive nationwide tests in the digital age now requires cyber-intelligence capabilities comparable to financial institutions.


India’s coaching economy must also come under sharper scrutiny. The hyper-commercialisation of competitive examinations has produced a parallel ecosystem while the line separating aggressive preparation from unethical advantage has steadily eroded. Unless the government imposes technological safeguards and institutional accountability, the NEET scandal will fade into the long catalogue of India’s forgotten examination frauds.

Comments

bottom of page