TENKASI: A medical aspirant from Kadayam, who took the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year for the second time, alleged tampering of her OMR sheet (answer sheet) and petitioned the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Health Minister Ma Subramanian.
Muppudathi S had already filed a petition for the same before the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court during the NEET in 2020. "My OMR sheet has been doctored either to pass someone or to fail me because I brought to light the shortcomings NEET last year," she claimed, referring to the scanned copy of the OMR sheet that was released by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on October 15.
Muppudathi wrote NEET on September 12 at a private school in Tirunelveli. "Just before the end of the examination at 4:55 pm, an observer entered the exam hall, collected my OMR sheet and took the photocopies of the same. He told me that he will pass my OMR sheet to the invigilator. Before handing over the sheet to him, I put my thumb impression on it. However, the thumb impression is missing in the scanned OMR sheet released by NTA.T he completion time of the exam (5 pm) has been written by someone into the signature box even though I already mentioned the timing in it. Most importantly, the answers that I marked in the original OMR sheet mismatches with the scanned copy of the OMR sheet. The 15 questions I left unanswered have been answered in the scanned copy," she alleged, adding the scanned OMR sheet is not the one that she filled during the exam.
When contacted by The New Indian Express, the observer Kethrapal said that he went to the exam hall and followed what the NTA said. However, he refuted Muppudathi's allegation of tampering. "The thumb impression may not be visible in the scanned copy uploaded in the NTA's portal. But it can be seen if she will check the original OMR sheet," he added.
The Tirunelveli Junction police, who conducted an inquiry with Muppudathi and Kethrapal, said Muppudathi has been advised to challenge the scanned OMR sheet with the NTA's portal itself.Muppudathi is currently pursuing second year of BSc Mathematics in an Alwarkurichi-based government aided college. She said she was preparing to approach the court once again.