A special court in Patna on Wednesday sent to CBI custody for 14 days the prime accused in the NEET-UG paper leak case, who had allegedly stolen the exam papers from a trunk of the National Testing Agency (NTA) in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live Updates,
during the custody of the accused Pankaj Kumar alias Aditya He is likely to be questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) till July 30 about his alleged role, his links with other gang members, payments received and his local contacts involved in the entire theft process, officials said.
Kumar’s alleged accomplice Raju Singh was on Tuesday sent to the federal agency’s custody for 10 days (till July 25).
The CBI arrested Kumar, a 2017 batch civil engineer of the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, for allegedly stealing the NEET-UG paper from the NTA’s trunk in Hazaribagh, officials said.
He said that Kumar, a resident of Bokaro, was arrested from Patna.
He said the agency arrested Singh from Hazaribagh for allegedly helping Kumar steal the papers.
Singh was arrested after detailed questioning, officials said. They said the agency has temporarily sealed the Raj Guest House in Hazaribagh in connection with the case.
The CBI has also arrested Hindi newspaper journalist Jamaluddin Ansari, Oasis School principal Ehsanul Haque and vice principal Imtiyaz Alam from Hazaribagh. It is said that Haque and Alam were appointed coordinators by the NTA in the district.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOU) of Bihar Police had earlier said that the leaked question paper of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Undergraduate (NEET-UG) was allegedly obtained by the notorious Sanjeev Kumar alias Lootan Mukhiya solver gang from Oasis School in Hazaribagh.
It said that investigators had matched a partially burnt question paper recovered from a safe house in Patna with the reference question paper provided by the NTA, confirming the source of the leak.
However, officials said it was not clear who was behind the alleged paper leak.
In an interview to the media, Haq said the box containing the question paper could not be opened because its digital lock, which should have opened automatically, had malfunctioned.
He said he then contacted the NTA, which asked him to use a cutter to open the box.
The CBI, which is probing alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam, has registered six FIRs. The FIR lodged in Bihar is related to paper leak, while the FIRs lodged in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are related to impersonation and cheating.
The agency’s own FIR on a reference from the Union Education Ministry relates to a “comprehensive investigation” into alleged irregularities in NEET-UG 2024.
The NEET-UG exam is conducted by the NTA for admission to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions. This year the exam was held on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 foreign cities. Over 23 lakh candidates appeared for the exam.
