‘Left home late, took wrong route’: Bengaluru cops on why NEET aspirant was late

THe Bengaluru traffic constabulary on tues said its ‘fact check out’ on subject Eligibility cum spellbind Test for Undergraduate (NEET-UG) re-examination delay found no evidence that traffic linked to a Congress rally prevented a student from reaching the examination centre on time, concluding that the candidate left home too late and travelled by a longer routeThe clarification was based on CCTV footage, discussions with the student from RT Nagar and parents, and an analysis of the route taken to the examination centre.According to the police, the candidate left home at 12.57pm, while 1.30pm was the reporting time for entry to the examination centre. The student reached the examination centre area at 1.33pm, three minutes after the deadline.In a statement posted on X, the traffic police said CCTV footage confirmed the student had departed “only 33 minutes before the cut off time” and had travelled on a longer route. “Traffic conditions were found to be normal, and traffic police personnel facilitated movement wherever required. The delay was primarily due to late departure from residence and route selection,” police said.The department added that officers deployed along the route were “seen assisting the candidate’s movement wherever required” and found no significant congestion linked to the public event.The incident became the focus of a political dispute after the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that a Congress rally in Bengaluru created severe traffic disruption that affected students travelling to NEET examination centres.BJP national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “It is deeply disturbing that for the Congress, political rallies and theatrics take precedence over the careers of lakhs of students. They have no real concern for the youth; their only interest is turning academic issues into a political spectacle.”State home minister Priyank Kharge rejected the claim and said three students missed the examination for different reasons.Also Read: ‘Inconvenience’, ‘half-truths’: Tejasvi Surya vs Priyank Kharge over Congress rally ‘disrupting’ NEET exam in BengaluruAccording to him, one student travelling from Magadi missed a bus and was coming from the opposite direction of the rally, another arrived with an old hall ticket, and the third candidate was travelling from RT Nagar.“A total of 720 students were allotted RC College as their NEET examination centre. Of these, 142 were absent. Only three students missed the examination due to specific, individual circumstances. We had issued comprehensive traffic advisories and established a dedicated helpline for NEET aspirants,” he said.“Who forced students to reappear?” He said, while arguing that attention should instead be directed at the nationwide NEET paper leak.