The 18-year-old son of Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar, owner of Latur’s Renukai Career Coaching Institute who is a key accused in the NEET-UG paper leak case, is learnt to have told the CBI that he attended a special class in a ‘deluxe room’ at the Siddhivinayak Hospital in Latur, where the National Testing Agency’s Chemistry expert Pralhad Vithalrao Kulkarni dictated 132 questions and answers.
Motegaonkar’s son had appeared for the NEET exam held on May 3, which was later cancelled. His statement has been cited in the agency’s chargesheet which lists 360 witnesses, The Indian Express has learnt. The chargesheet that names 13 accused was filed on July 28 before a Delhi fast-track court.
The youth is learnt to have told the CBI that around April 15, Motegaonkar asked him to visit the Siddhivinayak Hospital to meet a Chemistry teacher. The hospital is run by Manoj Bhagwanrao Shirure. Both Kulkarni and Shirure have since been arrested.
“He questioned his father about why he was being sent to another Chemistry teacher when his family already ran a coaching centre. His father, he said, told him that the teacher was a NEET expert and would provide important questions related to the examination,” sources said.
The youth is learnt to have told the CBI that he went to Siddhivinayak Hospital on April 18, 19 and 22. “On each of these days, he was taken to the third floor of the hospital, where an elderly man, later identified by him as P V Kulkarni, conducted Chemistry revision classes for 1.5 to 2 hours. During these sessions, Kulkarni carried a bunch of papers and dictated questions and answers, which he wrote down in his notebook in his own handwriting,” sources said.
Across the three classes, he is learnt to have said that he noted down 132 Chemistry questions along with their answers. “During investigation, he also identified Dr Shirure, who runs Siddhivinayak Hospital, as his family doctor. He said the hospital was the place where the classes were conducted. On April 18, Dr Shirure was present at the hospital and directed the receptionist, Bhujang Rajkumar Birajdar, to take him to the third floor,” sources said.
According to sources, the youth also identified the receptionist from a video call. He is also learnt to have identified Kulkarni and Shirure.
“He also claimed that he went to the hospital again on April 20 but Kulkarni did not arrive, and he left without attending any class. He did not go on April 21 because of ill health. On April 22, he again visited the hospital, met the receptionist, went to the third floor and attended another session with Kulkarni,” sources said.
The youth is learnt to have told investigators that after returning from these classes, his father would check his notebook. He is learnt to have said that Motegaonkar was not convinced about the questions, so he did not memorise them. While the youth got 117 marks out of 180 in Chemistry, he is learnt to have said that if he had trusted the list of questions, he could have scored full marks.
The CBI, it is learnt, also asked him whether Motegaonkar had copied or made notes of the questions. “He said his father had not made any such notes in his presence. However, he added that his father used to go through the questions that he had written in his notebook during Kulkarni’s classes,” sources said.
The CBI, it is learnt, asked him where he had kept the notebook containing the questions provided by Kulkarni. According to sources, the youth said that after the completion of NEET-UG, he sold his notebooks to a scrap dealer.
The CBI is also learnt to have recorded the statement of the Siddhivinayak Hospital receptionist and asked him about visitor entry records. He said no record for visitors was maintained in the hospital register and only patients’ entry records were maintained, said sources.
