The Muslim candidates who were asked to remove their burkha and hijab at a National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) centre here could have taken prior permission to wear them, the college principal said on Tuesday.

The parent of only one girl made it an issue, claimed G S Kubde, principal of Matoshree Shantabai Gote College where the incident took place on Monday.

Five Muslim girls were asked to remove their burkha and hijab before entering the examination hall, and after talking with the official they agreed to do so, he told PTI over phone.

One of them, however, went outside to hand over her burkha to her father who "blew the issue out of proportion," the principal alleged. "All five girls appeared for the exam. They could have approached the exam centre's head for permission to wear burkha two hours before the test began," he added.

On Monday, at least two Muslim girls approached the local police, alleging that staff at the Gote college made objectionable remarks like threatening to cut the burkha if they didn't remove it.

NEET, the national entrance exam for various undergraduate medical courses, was conducted at six centres in Washim city.