NEET UG probe in Bihar ‘very much suggestive of a paper leak’: Police

Speaking to The Indian Express, Additional Director General of Police, EOU, N H Khan said, “We had asked a set of questions to the National Testing Agency, which organises NEET. Our team has just received answers. We may have some follow-up questions. We have been working on some contacts we have received in the course of our investigation, which is very much suggestive of a paper leak.”

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that apart from issues faced in just six centres out of roughly 4,500, NEET was conducted satisfactorily across the country. He denied allegations of a paper leak, but added that if anything is proven true, “no one will be spared”.

“Every aspect is being looked into. Accountability will be fixed and depending on the nature of the lapse, action will be taken. There is no scope for any malpractice or irregularities in the conduct of any exam. We will not tolerate that. The accountability of the National Testing Agency (NTA) will also be fixed if lapses are found,” Pradhan said in response to a question.

“The government is committed to protecting the interests of NEET examinees. Concerns of students will be addressed with fairness and equity. Facts related to NEET are in cognizance of the Supreme Court. The counselling process will be underway soon and it is of utmost importance to move ahead in this direction without any confusion,” he said.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Bihar EOU, which had taken over the probe from Patna police last month, said that admit cards, post-dated cheques and certificates of several candidates had been seized from members of an “organised inter-state gang”.

“Our SIT is now trying to establish corroborative evidence, such as who got question and answer sheets and from where, and how it could have reached the examination centres,” Khan said.

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The eight-member SIT is led by Superintendent of Police (Administration), EOU, Bihar, Madan Kumar Anand.

“The SIT has seized post-dated cheques, which suggest money was being paid by candidates to an organised gang. We have evidence which suggests question papers were burnt at a centre after NEET, but it is not enough proof to confirm that there was a paper leak. We are investigating the matter,” said an EOU source.

“Of the 13 people arrested in the case so far, four are candidates who took the NEET. The remaining are their parents and members of the organised gang, which allegedly gathered 35 candidates before the exam at a school under the jurisdiction of Ramakrishna Nagar police station, and conducted a mock exam. They allegedly received the NEET question paper with answers there,” an EOU official said.

“Some remains of the purportedly burnt question papers have been seized from the school,” an EOU official said.

One of the arrested accused, Nitish Kumar of Gaya, was arrested by the EOU earlier too — in an alleged paper leak of the Bihar Teacher’s Recruitment Exam, conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission on March 15.

On May 5, Patna police had received information of alleged rigging in the NEET conducted at various examination centres there. A case was eventually filed at Shastri Nagar police station.