CBI makes first arrests in NEET-UG paper leak case, two held from Bihar's Patna
NEET UG paper leak case: On June 24, the CBI collected all material evidence related to the alleged NEET-UG paper leak case from the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the Bihar Police, which had been handling the probe until the federal agency took over.
NEET-UG paper leak case: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Thursday arrested two people from Bihar's Patna in connection with the alleged NEET-UG exam paper leak case, officials said. They have been identified as Manish Kumar and Ashutosh Kumar.
As per the officials, they allegedly provided safe premises to the aspirants before the examination where they were given leaked papers and answer keys. Manish Prakash was responsible for transporting candidates to Learn Play School in his car while Ashutosh used to arrange the premises at Safe House for the students, who were accommodated in his house.
Manish was arrested during interrogation from Patna. The CBI informed Manish's wife of his arrest via a phone call.
Notably, this marks the first arrests by the CBI independently, as previously it had only taken custody of individuals arrested by local police. Both Manish Prakash and Ashutosh have been presented in court.
Bihar Deputy CM on NEET paper leak
On the NEET paper leak, Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary said, "Action is going on this. We are bringing a law and the Government of India has also made a provision for a law, a provision has been made for 10 years of punishment and fine. We will also bring a law on this by the next session and by taking strict action and conducting speedy trial, we will work to punish the accused in 3-6 months."
Bihar government transfers case to CBI
The Bihar government handed over the investigation of alleged irregularities in the 2024 NEET-UG exam to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a thorough probe. The Economic Offences Unit handed over all the updated case records to the central agency.
The CBI has registered six FIRs in the NEET paper leak case.
NEET-UG is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country. The examination was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. Over 23 lakh candidates appeared for the test.
Although results were declared on June 4, they were swiftly overshadowed by allegations of question paper leaks in Bihar and reports of other irregularities across different states. Meanwhile, the central government has also drawn flak over alleged irregularities in NEET-UG.