NEW DELHI: The CBI, which is probing cases relating to NEET-UG paper leaks, has arrested two more accused, including an engineer, who allegedly stole the question papers from a National Testing Agency’s (NTA) sealed trunk from an exam centre in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh, officials said on Tuesday.
According to the officials, with these arrests, the total number of persons arrested in connection with cases pertaining to leakage, impersonation, and other irregularities in the medical entrance exam has now reached 14.
Identifying one of the arrested accused as Pankaj Kumar, alias Aditya, the officials said he is a 2017 batch civil engineer from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Jamshedpur who allegedly stole the NEET-UG paper from the NTA trunk. Kumar is a resident of Bokaro and was arrested in Patna, they added.
Another accused, who has been arrested, is identified as Raju Singh, who allegedly helped Kumar steal the paper and pass them on to other gang members, they said, adding that Singh was arrested from Hazaribagh.
The CBI has so far registered six FIRs. The FIR from Bihar pertains to leakage of paper, while the remaining from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are linked to impersonation of candidates and cheating.
The agency’s own FIR, based on a reference from the Union Education Ministry, pertains to a “comprehensive investigation” into the alleged irregularities in the examination.
On June 27, the CBI made its first arrests in the NEET-UG paper leak case and detained two men from Bihar. The two accused, identified as Manish Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar, were arrested from Patna.
It is learned from CBI sources that Ashutosh is accused of providing premises where NEET aspirants studied the leaked question paper, while Manish allegedly arranged the paper.
The NEET-UG 2024 was conducted on May 5 for 23.33 lakh students at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 cities overseas.
The results were released on June 4, but soon, owing to multiple toppers, reports of a paper leak surfaced on social media. The case is currently under investigation by the CBI.
The National Eligibility-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.
