- Bengaluru NEET aspirant missed exam due to late departure, says police
- CCTV and route analysis show no traffic congestion from Congress rally, they say
- Candidate left home 33 minutes before cut-off time and arrived 3 minutes late
One of the NEET aspirants who missed the medical entrance exam yesterday did not arrive late due to traffic congestion or any public event, Bengaluru Police has claimed. The student had set off for the centre only half an hour before cut-off time and had taken a longer route, the police added, fact-checking claims that a Congress rally had caused traffic delays.
"Based on CCTV footage, interaction with the candidate and parent, and route analysis, the available evidence does not indicate that traffic congestion caused by the public event led to the delay. The late arrival was primarily attributable to 1. departure from residence only 33 minutes before the cut-off time, and 2. The selection of a longer travel route," Bengaluru Police said.
Read: NEET Takes Another Political Turn After Students Miss Exam In Bengaluru
A note shared by the police pointed out that the candidate had departed at 12:57 pm and reached at 1:33 pm, three minutes after the 1:30 am cut-off time. The exam began at 2 pm.
"CCTV footage and route analysis confirm that the candidate departed only 33 minutes before the prescribed cut-off time. Analysis indicates that the candidate travelled through a longer route despite the availability of a shorter route, which could have enabled quicker travel," it read.
The police also stated that the traffic conditions yesterday were normal, with no significant congestion attributable to the rally.
The student was not identified in the police note.
Over 22 lakh students appeared for the NEET UG re-test across the country yesterday, over a month after the previous attempt was invalidated following allegations of a paper leak.
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Outside an exam centre in Bengaluru, chaos erupted as the clock ticked past the cut-off time. At least three students arrived after the gates closed. They were not allowed inside. Left dismayed, their parents argued that they got late due to traffic jam.
Krishna Murthy, father of one of the aspirants, said they managed to reach the exam centre only at the last minute due to the rally. "The 7-km stretch that usually takes 20 minutes took more than 35 minutes yesterday. As a father, I got panicked. I had to ride on the footpath, and the cops scolded us. But there was no option. Political rallies should happen on the outskirts, not in Bengaluru," Murthy said while speaking to NDTV.
Another parent claimed that nearby roads had been blocked for hours due to the Congress rally.
The BJP was quick to target the Congress government in Karnataka for ignoring students' interests.
The state government, however, pointed out that students have missed the exam in BJP-ruled states too, like Delhi, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh, and attacked the BJP over paper leaks.
