Bengaluru, June 17 (IANS) Medical Education, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood Minister Sharan Prakash Patil has appealed to medical seat aspirants and their parents not to fall prey to fraudulent middlemen under any circumstances.

In a press release on Tuesday, the minister said that students who have studied hard and performed well in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exams, driven by their dream of becoming doctors, must not let anxiety over securing a seat push them into the trap of fraudsters.

Minister Patil warned that a growing number of people are falsely promising medical seats, claiming they can get admission in certain colleges by leveraging their “contacts” or “influence,” only to disappear later after cheating.

In Karnataka, 1,47,782 candidates registered for the exam, and 1,42,369 appeared. Of these, 83,582 students qualified in the recently announced NEET results. “Do not act in haste or anxiety to secure a seat in a top college. Middlemen are waiting to exploit your desperation. Stay alert and avoid their scams,” advised the minister.

“All seat allotments will be done in a systematic and transparent manner solely through the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA). Students and parents must strictly adhere to these official procedures,” Patil emphasised.

He also congratulated all students who secured good ranks and extended his best wishes for their future.

The minister said that if anyone is found misleading students or parents with false promises of securing seats and cheating them, such middlemen will be identified and dealt with strictly as per the law.

“The government will not tolerate playing with the future of students and parents. Stern action will be taken against such intermediaries,” the Minister has warned.

In December 2024, the Malleshwaram police in Bengaluru had arrested ten people in connection with an alleged engineering seat-blocking scam that defrauded eligible candidates and benefited private colleges.

The KEA had filed a complaint in this regard in November 2024, alleging that 52 candidates’ login credentials, including passwords and secret keys, were illegally accessed. Using this data, the accused blocked government quota seats in reputed institutions.

–IANS

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