NEET Aspirant Detained For Cheating With Phone At Ragannaguda School

An 18-year-old NEET aspirant was detained by the police on Sunday after he was caught cheating with a smuggled mobile phone during the medical entrance exam retest at Ragannaguda Zilla Parishad High School in Hyderabad. The student's attempt was foiled when his prolonged washroom break raised the suspicion of an exam invigilator.

According to officers from the Adibatla Police Station, the student had executed a detailed plan to smuggle the mobile phone into the examination centre. He arrived at the Ragannaguda Zilla Parishad High School at 7 a.m. on Sunday, an hour after the police had completed their initial sanitisation of the premises.

The student scaled the school's compound wall, approached the washroom area, and placed his mobile phone near a ventilator. He then returned to his home to freshen up before coming back to the centre to officially appear for the national-level entrance test.

Before the examination commenced, the student visited the washroom again, retrieved the phone, placed it inside a bag, and hid it inside the toilet flush tank. Although police conducted a second round of security checks around 11 a.m., the hidden device went undetected.

During the examination, the student complained of a stomachache and requested permission from the invigilator to use the washroom. The invigilator allowed him to leave but grew suspicious when the student failed to return to the exam hall after more than five minutes.

The invigilator alerted school staff, who entered the washroom and caught the student using his mobile phone to search for answers on the internet.

Following his detection, the student confessed to the act and was taken into custody by the Adibatla police. Officials have registered a case of cheating under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and have also invoked the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.

The retest was held on Sunday across the country, with more than 24,500 students appearing at 66 centres in Hyderabad.