Terming the recent National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) question paper leak as a “grave injustice to the student community”, Karnataka Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil demanded a “court-monitored” probe into the scandal.

He alleged the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), presently probing the case, did not elicit confidence. “A transparent investigation under its watch is unlikely,” he said. “This scandal appears to have been orchestrated to enable the sale of MBBS seats. There are strong suspicions that powerful individuals are behind the entire affair,” he further alleged, arguing only a court-monitored probe would bring out the truth. 

The Union government’s “haphazard conduct of NEET has completely eroded public trust,” he said, and demanded that the Minister concerned resign.

Dr. Patil said that Karnataka’s Common Entrance Test (CET) was a far superior model compared to NEET and should be adopted nationally. “The State has urged the Union government on multiple occasions to consider this, but those appeals have gone unheeded,” he said.