New Delhi: Officials claimed on Tuesday that the CBI, which is probing cases involving NEET-UG paper leaks, has detained two more suspects, one of whom is an engineer. They are accused of stealing the question papers from a sealed trunk belonging to the National Testing Agency (NTA) at an exam centre in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.
With these arrests, the total number of people detained in relation to incidents involving leakage, impersonation, and other irregularities in the medical entrance exam has now reached 14, according to the officials, the New Indian Express reported.
Pankaj Kumar, also known as Aditya, is a 2017 batch civil engineer from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Jamshedpur, according to the officials, who identified him as one of the arrested accused. He is accused of stealing the NEET-UG paper from the NTA trunk. They also mentioned that Kumar is a Bokaro resident who was detained in Patna.
They stated that Raju Singh, another accused who has been taken into custody, allegedly assisted Kumar in stealing the papers and passing them on to other gang members. Singh was apprehended in Hazaribagh.
Six FIRs have been filed with the CBI thus far. The Bihar FIR concerns paper leakage, while the remaining ones from Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra are related to cheating and impersonating candidates. Based on a referral from the Union Education Ministry, the agency's own FIR refers to a "comprehensive investigation" into the alleged irregularities in the test.
Two persons from Bihar were taken into custody by the CBI on June 27, marking the agency's first arrests in the NEET-UG paper leak investigation. Manish Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar, the two suspects, were taken into custody in Patna.
According to CBI sources, Manish reportedly arranged the question paper, while Ashutosh is accused of providing the premises where NEET applicants studied the leaked version.
On May 5, 23,.33 lakh candidates took the NEET-UG 2024 exam at 4,750 centres spread across 571 cities, including 14 international locations. The results were made public on June 4, however, social media quickly began to trend with rumours of a paper leak due to several top scorers. The CBI is now looking into the case.
The NTA administers the National Eligibility-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) to applicants for admission to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other relevant programmes in public and private universities around the nation.