NEW DELHI: In a shocking data breach ahead of NEET-PG 2025 counselling, personal details of thousands of medical aspirants—including their names, contact numbers, addresses, scores and department preferences—have been found on sale across multiple websites.
The data, allegedly leaked from official records, is being peddled to touts, coaching institutes and marketing firms for sums ranging between Rs 3,500 and Rs 15,000.
The NEET-PG 2025 examination was held on August 3. The counselling is expected to start by the third week of October.
A simple online search with terms like ‘NEET PG 2025 student data’ throws up several portals openly advertising ‘student databases’ as commodities. When this newspaper contacted one such website studentdatabases.com, it offered a sample list of 100 aspirants from Delhi and demanded Rs 10,000 for full access. The rate was eventually negotiated down to Rs 7,000. Another website operator claimed their portal would soon be deleted after a copyright strike.
A sample dataset accessed by this newspaper contained details of 100 candidates, including their application IDs, roll numbers, names, fathers’ names, nationalities, categories, NEET-PG scores & ranks, email IDs, mobile numbers, states, cities and genders.
A random verification revealed that the profiles were genuine. Several candidates claim that they have received unsolicited calls from individuals posing as admission counsellors demanding hefty sums to secure seats in MD or MS courses.
Dr Devaunshi Kaul, president of the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association, has termed the leak “a grave violation of privacy and data integrity”. Meanwhile, no comment was received from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare till the time of going to press.