A prime accused in the Joint Entrance Examination (Mains) scam Bhargav Deka has been arrested on Sunday evening from Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International airport in Guwahati. Deka surrendered after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the court. A total of seven arrests have been made so far in connection with the examination scam in which a candidate used a proxy and topped in the state.

Meanwhile, police have approached the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the exam across the country, and sought data to aid the investigation. The NTA had outsourced the infrastructural and human resources support to TCS for conducting the examinations. The alleged prime accused Bhargav Deka is the owner of the consultancy firm Global Edu Light. As per sources, Deka’s firm has links with illegitimate ways for appearing in competitive exams. 

Assam Govt has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by Guwahati Additional Deputy Commissioner (West) Supportive Lal Baruah to probe the scam, which came to light following a recorded phone call conversation that went viral, where the candidate had admitted to his friend that a proxy was used for appearing in the exam held on September 5. Subsequently, an FIR was filed on October 23, alleging that the candidate who scored 99.8 per cent in the JEE (Mains) did not take the test, but used a proxy to do so on his behalf and also said that the parents of the candidate, both of whom are practicing doctors, had paid a sum of ₹ 15-20 lakh to a private coaching institute in Guwahati to help their son in the examination.