PATNA: A two-member CBI team arrived in the state capital on Monday to commence its investigation into the alleged NEET-UG paper leak, while Bihar Police’s Economic Offences Unit (EOU) has not ruled out the possibility of the question paper being leaked during its transportation in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh.
A senior EOU official stated that the question paper might have been leaked either during its transportation from the courier company to the main branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) or from the bank to Hazaribagh's Oasis School, designated as an examination centre for the NEET-UG. The question papers were stored in the SBI locker.
The EOU team visited Oasis School after Bihar police, on May 5 (the day of the examination), found a burnt question paper and recovered booklet number 636488 from Khemnichak locality in the state capital.
During the investigation, the booklet number was traced to the Oasis School examination centre. It was discovered that the questions from the burnt booklet matched entirely with those in the original booklet.
EOU sources revealed that the boxes of question papers were delivered to SBI, Hazaribagh by Blue Dart Courier Service on May 3.
Employees of Blue Dart Courier in Hazaribagh informed EOU officials that the boxes were transported from Ranchi to Hazaribagh by a vehicle of the courier network. In complete violation of the protocol, the question paper boxes were transported to the SBI main branch in Hazaribagh by a hired e-rickshaw.
Meanwhile, Principal of Oasis School and City Coordinator of NTA, Dr. Ehsan Ul Haq, stated to FPJ that the NEET (UG) examination was conducted at five centres in Hazaribagh as per the norms of NTA. He received the sealed question papers in a total of nine boxes at the SBI Bank on May 5 after 7:30 am and handed over the sealed boxes to the centre superintendent and observers of all five examination centres in Hazaribagh in the presence of the bank manager. He added that the examination was conducted peacefully at all centres.
"As per the SOP of NTA, the boxes of question papers were received on May 5. However, according to information received, a copy of the question paper was available in Patna on May 4 itself," he added, contending that his centre was not responsible for the alleged leakage of the question paper.
Sources claimed that the courier company, instead of delivering the question papers to the SBI branch, delivered them to their local office, indicating possible collusion between the courier company’s staff and the gang.
Investigators are also probing whether the question paper box was tampered with to leak the paper. The box was opened 15 minutes before the exam, and only a professional could tamper with it by going inside the seven layers of the envelope, sources added.
