CBI’s big revelations in NEET case: Leak at Hazaribagh school on morning of test, principal ‘took money’, mastermind entered strongroom

Oasis School principal Ehsanul Haque and centre superintendent Imtiyaz Alam are already in CBI custody in connection with the case. Both have denied any wrongdoing.

In its arguments, CBI said they have evidence that Haque and Alam took money in lieu of the leak and it had recovered post-dated cheques. “The money was not given in one tranche,” the CBI said.

Explaining the alleged modus operandi, CBI said that one of the alleged kingpins had entered the school’s strongroom on the morning of the exam with a toolkit to access the papers. The accused then allegedly photographed the question paper and sent it to another accused who was with the ‘Solver Gang’ in Hazaribagh to have it solved by a group of medical students called there for the purpose.

“We have CCTV footage to show that the main accused Pankaj Kumar alias Aditya has accessed the strongroom in the Oasis School. The front door was locked in front of everybody and the key was with the Centre Superintendent. However, the inside bolt of the rear door was kept deliberately open by the Centre Superintendent as well as the city coordinator as part of the conspiracy to allow somebody to enter. Accused Pankaj Kumar enters the campus at 7.12 am and sits in the staff room adjacent to the strong room. So, at 7.53 am the front door of the string room was locked… from the rear door at 8.02 am, this man entered from behind and left at 9.23 am,” the CBI said.

Kumar then allegedly sent the photos to another accused in the case, who shared it with “solvers” — medical students hired to “solve” the paper.

“Then the printout was taken of the photos. After the solvers solve the question paper, the hard copy is scanned and sent to one more location in Hazaribagh and the two locations in Patna,” the CBI said.

To Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud’s question whether the leaked paper was sent to other centres as well, the CBI said that as far as their investigation is concerned, they have found only four locations in Bihar (Patna) and Jharkhand (Hazaribagh) where the scanned copies of the solved question paper were sent.

“Total number of students benefited from the leak are 155 — 30 in Patna, and 125 in Hazaribagh,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented CBI in the case, told the court.