NEET scam shocker: Engineer who toured 110 countries ran Rs 100cr admission racket

The arrest of Abhinav Sharma, an engineer trained in Mathura, has shocked the investigating agencies as he visited more than 110 countries and allegedly operated a Rs 100 crore NEET admission racket.

What police initially thought was just another examination fraud exploded into a story of unimaginable scale: a BTech-Mechanical graduate from an obscure private college living like an international power broker, jet-setting across Europe, North America, Central Asia and South America — when in reality he was fortifying a criminal empire.

Behind this glossy façade of a globe-trotting entrepreneur, officers say Sharma, 35, quietly built a six-state network of deceit-complete with coaching fronts, proxy candidates, and a layered chain of middlemen-that sustained one of the country's most sophisticated exam-rigging syndicates.

DCP crime, Kamlesh Dixit said Sharma's lifestyle was "unmatched even among top corporate executives". He travelled business class, preferred seven-star hotels, and moved through airports in tailor-made Tuxedos. His collection included imported sunglasses worth Rs2 lakh each, a rotating line of Swiss watches and platinum bracelets up to Rs 5 lakh, luxury perfumes and designer shoes and loafers.

Investigators said that he splurged on relationships, too, gifting Rs 5-10 lakh items to several girlfriends and hosting lavish parties in luxurious apartments in Delhi, Bengaluru, Goa, Kathmandu, and Dubai.

Sharma first worked for a Delhi-based company that dealt with college admissions. In a year's time, he mastered the flaws in India's admission ecosystem. By 2012, he started his own ‘consultancy'. The gang targeted families of NEET aspirants and promised management-quota seats in medical colleges in Barabanki, Sitapur, and Bihar.

The money, ranging from Rs 18-45 lakh, was received in cash, through demand drafts and as online transfers into current accounts opened fraudulently in the name of Hind Institute of Medical Sciences.

Police said Sharma even invited some Bollywood stars to his events so that he could appear like a high-profile education entrepreneur.

Investigators found that during one of his earlier stints in jail, Sharma had befriended an inmate, Santosh Kumar, and started running his racket from behind bars. Later, he fled police custody by jumping off a train.

Sharma used at least five different identities to travel, open accounts, and rent properties.

The racket was busted after a number of victims filed complaints at the Lucknow cybercrime police station. FIRs were registered under BNS sections and IT Act 66D. Sharma and Santosh were arrested near Kathauta lake on Wednesday. According to investigators, the probe now focuses on recovering crores of rupees he splurged worldwide and mapping his network.