Fact Check: Kerala Coaching Centre Ad Misrepresented with False Communal Claims on NEET Scam

Recently, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested a suspect in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper leak case. However, some people online are trying to give a communal angle to this national scandal by claiming that the main beneficiaries of the leak were Muslims.

A Facebook user posted a photo of a newspaper ad showing several students and their scores, with a caption suggesting that all the students who benefited from the NEET paper leak were Muslims. The archived version of this post can be found here.

India Today Fact Check investigated this claim and found that the photo in question was actually an advertisement for a coaching centre in Kottakkal, Kerala. This centre had several students who scored high in the NEET exam. There is no evidence linking these students to the NEET paper leak, nor is there any proof that Muslim students specifically benefited from the leak.

OUR INVESTIGATION

The viral image seems to be from a Malayalam daily newspaper. We searched Google using keywords from a partially visible news item about “Environment Day celebrations” in the viral photo. This led us to a report with a similar headline in the online edition of Mathrubhumi Daily.

We then checked Mathrubhumi’s e-paper from the same date and found the full advertisement.

The ad was titled “Kottakkal Universal Institute NEET Result 2024” and displayed photos of students who scored high in the exams. The pictures clearly show that the group includes not just Muslim students but also students from other communities.

We contacted the Universal Institute in Kottakkal for more information. They confirmed that the social media claims were completely false. “The viral picture is an advertisement for Universal Institute published in Mathrubhumi daily. The ad features students from our institution who achieved the highest scores this year. Among them are students from different communities. Kottakkal has a Muslim majority, so most of the students here are Muslims. The propaganda with communal undertones is unfortunate,” Dr. Hameed, the institute’s principal, told India Today Fact Check.

Universal Institute also posted pictures of their high-scoring students on its Facebook page.

Additionally, Kerala has not reported any NEET irregularities so far. States like Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra have registered NEET paper leak cases.

Therefore, it is clear that an advertisement published in Mathrubhumi Daily for a coaching centre in Kerala has been misrepresented online to give a communal twist to the NEET paper leak scandal.

Published By: Sahil Sinha Published On: Jul 4, 2024