GUWAHATI: A tea-seller's son was the toast of Assam when he cracked the NEET and grabbed a seat at AIIMS Delhi a few days ago, but he became a reviled character by Friday after a "friend" claimed to have called his bluff.
When news of Rahul Kumar Das's "achievement" was aired on local TV channels on February 5, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the state government's help. Cabinet minister and local MLA Ranjeet Dass visited the tea stall and felicitated Rahul. He handed him Rs 10,000 as a token of appreciation.His new-found glory lasted till a "friend" flooded social media on Wednesday with documents to prove that Rahul's "feat" was "fake". Social media instantly turned against Rahul for pulling a fast one and he couldn't be traced since Thursday.
He left a note in Assamese on his Facebook page saying, "I have not done anything wrong," and "for this controversy I have received more than 300 phone calls asking for my marksheet". He also wrote, "Having lost my balance, I am going to hand myself over to Luit (Brahmaputra)."

The whistleblower collected Rahul's admit card for the NEET exam and based on his details downloaded his scorecard from the website of National Testing Agency that conducts the MBBS undergraduate entrance exam. The two documents with Rahul's photograph has two mismatches - the application number and the roll number. The names of his father and mother and his date of birth are, however, the same in both.
Rahul claimed his achievement before the media showing his admit card where his application number is 2104107194401 and the roll number 2303001114. When this roll number in Rahul's admit card is searched in the NEET-UG Counselling Seats Allotment -2021 Round 1 of national counselling, it returns as "allotted" in "AIIMS, New Delhi" for "MBBS" course under 'SC PwD' category.

Till this stage, there is no element of doubt. But the moment his roll number from the admit card and his date of birth are entered in the NTA website, it shows "invalid" inputs.

When the "Assam State NEET-UG Merit List For MBBS/BDS courses, session, 2021" is searched, there is one Rahul Kumar Das who has taken the test in the SC and physically handicapped category and whose roll no is 1402101745. He has obtained 106 marks out of 720.

Once this new roll number is fed into the NTA site with Rahul's birth date from his admit card, this time it is a valid input and his scorecard appears. This tells a different story. The photograph on this scorecard and his admit card matches, as do the names of his parents and his date of birth. But his roll number and application number (210410719440) don't match.

No official inquiry has been ordered yet. But a source in the CM's office said: "The feedback we have certainly establishes a fraud."