NEET row: CBI court grants bail to arrested man in apparent case of mistaken identity

The Dehradun police intercepted Gangadhar Raghunath Gunde when he contacted one of the accused identified as Sanjay Tukaram Jadhav. The police apprised the CBI of the same on June 26 and 'Gunde' was arrested when he was en-route from Uttarakhand to Mussoorie.

A 52-year-old man who was "wrongly" arrested by CBI in the NEET exam paper leak case of Bihar, was granted bail on Friday. The CBI had mistaken Gangadhar Raghunath Gunde for the real accused N Gangadhar Appa.

Pursuing the details in the NEET paper leak case, the Dehradun police had intercepted Gunde when he contacted one of the accused identified by Indian Express in a report as Sanjay Tukaram Jadhav. The police apprised the CBI of the same on June 26 and Gunde was tracked and arrested when he was en-route Uttarakhand to Mussoorie.

Gunde spent four days, until June 30 in prison followed by 12-day judicial custody. He however countered his arrest by the CBI and submitted a bail application which stated: “…the Gangadhar named in the FIR is not the Gangadhar Rangnath Gunde, but another Gangadhar who has been arrested by the CBI and he has been given CBI custody for two days. Only the name of this Gangadhar matches with the original accused…”

“There is not a single word that has been found against me (Gangadhar Gunde) in this case…I don’t even know what the NEET examination is,” Gunde's lawyer Kailas More informed the court.

Referring to Gunde's interaction with Jadhav, the lawyer claimed the "two met in October 2023 to settle a matrimonial dispute involving Gunde's daughter". More further said that "this is when Gunde met Jadhav for the first time on October 2, 2023, thereafter Gunde never contacted Sanjay Jadhav..." in the bail application.

Gunde's lawyer also told the court that the name of the real accused was N Gangadhar Appa, who was later arrested. However, CBI opposing the bail plea told the court that they have the custody of two persons namely Gangadhar. The probe agency further claimed that only Iranna Kongulwar, an accused who is on the run at present, could identify the Gangadhar involved in the NEET paper leak case.

“There is no such case of mistaken identity… the accused is misleading the Court,” the CBI stated.

A detailed order by the court in this matter is awaited.

The CBI had conducted searches at 15 locations in Bihar and Jharkhand where they found incriminating evidence in the ongoing investigation into the NEET paper leak cases. The agency has till now registered six FIRs in the matter.