The Directorate of Medical Education had registered a police complaint against a medical aspirant who forged the NEET scorecard and provisional rank list in order to secure a medical seat. The student and her father have now been traced.

The candidate, who hails from Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram district, went into hiding along with her father after a case was registered against them. They have been traced to Kerala, as per a statement by the Periamet police who are investigating the matter. In his complaint to the police, Additional Director of Medical Education and Secretary of the Selection Committee G Selvarajan had alleged that the student had secured 27 marks in NEET UG-2020 as opposed to the 610 marks mentioned in the NEET score card she had uploaded. The girl's father had manipulated the provisional rank list and swapped her name with that of another candidate. They had approached the counselling venue in Chennai's Jawaharlal Nehru stadium on November 30 and submitted the doctored scorecard.

When the officials found discrepancies in the documents, they reportedly cross-verified the NEET score card uploaded by the candidate with the one available with National Testing Agency and found that the papers were forged. "They were asked to appear for a probe as only a detailed inquiry will reveal how she managed to forge the documents and of there is a larger network involved," a Periamet police official was quoted as saying by a news agency.

As per reports, a case was registered against the accused under section 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), section 464 (making a false document), section 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), section 471 (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record, and section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.