CBI takes over investigation; arrests in Bihar reach 18, 5 others detained for alleged paper leak

New Delhi/Patna: The CBI on Sunday took over investigation into alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG medical entrance exam following a referral from the Union education ministry, while the Crime Unit Economic Affairs of the Bihar Police arrested five more people for alleged paper leakage. , bringing the total number of arrests to 18.

As the investigation gained momentum, the National Testing Agency (NTA) hit more students, excluding 17 from the centers in Bihar after “malpractice” was detected.

Amid a call to cancel the May 5 review, ministry officials reiterated the government's previous position that the incidents of malpractice were “localized” or “isolated” and that it was not not fair to jeopardize the careers of thousands of candidates who have passed the exam. Well Named.

In a new optional test held for 1,563 students whose grace marks were scrapped after the case went to the Supreme Court, only 813 appeared on Sunday.

These candidates were given grace marks by the NTA to compensate for the loss of time at six centers due to the delay in the start of the exam on May 5. This was alleged to have led to grade inflation and contributed to six of the Grace Mark candidates from the same central Haryana scoring a perfect score of 720 along with 61 others.

More than 13 lakh candidates out of around 24 lakh qualified NEET-UG this year and they will compete for around 1.8 lakh MBBS/dental seats.

Amid allegations of irregularities as well as “bunching of high scores”, the NTA said the top one lakh candidates are spread across 4,500 centers across the country.

In addition, almost two thirds of them come from rural or semi-rural areas, it is specified.

As the nationwide protests and litigation continued, the CBI filed the FIR in connection with alleged irregularities in NEET-UG under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC, among others.

The EOU of the Bihar Police had submitted a report to the Education Department on Saturday, following which the investigation was handed over to the CBI for further investigation.

In a statement issued in Patna on Sunday evening, the EOU said the five arrested persons were arrested on Saturday from Deoghar in Jharkhand.

They were identified as Baldev Kumar, Mukesh Kumar, Panku Kumar, Rajeev Kumar and Paramjeet Singh. All are from Nalanda.

Baldev Kumar, associated with the notorious Sanjeev Kumar alias Lutan Mukhiya gang, allegedly received the solved answer sheet of NEET-UG exam in PDF format on his mobile phone a day before the exam, the statement said.

The statement claimed that members of the Mukhiya gang, accused of orchestrating multiple interstate paper leaks, were behind the leaked answer sheet.

Further investigation revealed that Baldev and his associates had printed and distributed the solved answer sheet to students gathered at a shelter at Ram Krishna Nagar in Patna on May 4 for memorization. The aspirants were brought there by two previously arrested persons, Nitish Kumar and Amit Anand.

According to the statement, the leaked NEET-UG question paper was allegedly obtained from a private school in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, by the Mukhiya gang.

Investigators compared a partially burnt questionnaire recovered from the Patna hideout with the reference questionnaire provided by the National Testing Agency (NTA), confirming the source of the leak, he said.

Standard procedures for handling and transporting questionnaires, as laid down by the NTA, were also allegedly ignored by those involved in the offense, he claimed.

The EOU interviewed several people linked to the chain of custody of the question documents, including bank officials and employees of a courier company.

A manhunt is underway to arrest Mukhiya and his other gang members, it says.

“The NTA also provided the civil code of 15 candidates during the course of investigation for their detailed examination. While four were examined, the remaining 11 did not present themselves to the investigators for their examination,” he said. noted.

The case has now been handed over to the CBI for further investigation, he added.

The EOU had arrested 13 people in connection with the case last month.

“Based on the feedback received, 17 candidates from centers in Bihar have been excluded. This takes the total number of candidates excluded from the exam this year to 110,” an NTA official said.

The agency had earlier debarred 63 candidates for adopting unfair methods during the exam. On Saturday, 30 more candidates from Gujarat's Godhara were also excluded.

Officials said the ministry had alleged in a complaint filed with the CBI, which is now part of the FIR, that “certain isolated incidents” had occurred in a few states during the conduct of the examination.

“The Ministry of Education has asked the CBI to conduct a thorough investigation into the full range of alleged irregularities, including conspiracy, cheating, impersonation, breach of trust and destruction of evidence by candidates, institutes and intermediaries,” a CBI spokesperson said.

The role of officials, if any, related to the conduct of the review as well as in the full range of events, as well as the broader conspiracy, will also be under the scanner, according to the officials.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has questioned two teachers who run a private coaching center in Latur district over the alleged irregularities.

The Center had removed NTA DG Subodh Kumar Singh on Saturday evening and put him on “compulsory standby” until further orders.

The opposition has intensified its attacks on the government over the issue, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the responsibility lay with the higher echelons of the Modi government and reshuffling bureaucrats was not a solution. Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged that the Modi government had handed over the entire education system to the “mafia” and “corrupt” after the Center canceled the UGC-NET and postponed the NEET- PG and CSIR-UGC-NET.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MP Stalin said the cancellation of exams was not a one-off event “but the final nail in the coffin of an incompetent and broken system of centralized selection”.

The BJP, however, claimed that the government had tackled the NEET issue “head on”.

“He notified the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, appointed high-level committee to review streamlining of examination process and elimination of wastage, sacks NTA DG , orders a CBI probe in NEET (UG), besides postponing several exams, anticipating possible compromises, to protect the interests of students,” said Amit Malviya, head of the IT department of the BJP.

He alleged that Congress ally RJD was linked to the document leak in Bihar and its leaders should not use the issue for their “dirty politics”.

The high-level group of the Union education ministry tasked with suggesting exam reforms and reviewing the functioning of the National Testing Agency will meet on Monday, sources said.

The ministry had on Saturday notified the seven-member committee headed by former Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief K Radhakrishnan to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of exams through the NTA.

On Sunday, the NTA also clarified that its website and all other web portals are completely secure, and reports that these have been compromised and hacked are false and misleading.