Clear suggestion of NEET-UG paper leak, probable involvement of organised gangs: Bihar’s probe unit in report to Centre

This is in line with what The Indian Express had reported earlier. “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,” Khan had told The Indian Express.

The six-page EOU report to the Centre says that the seizure of burnt remains of the purported question paper’s photocopy, interrogation and confessional statements of the accused, and questioning of two more examinees indicate a leak, it is learnt.

It highlights how all the accused testified before the police that four examinees, who are among those arrested, had memorised answers from the leaked question paper while residing at a location in Rajbanshi Nagar, it is learnt. The four eventually got 581, 483, 300 and 185 marks out of 720.

The report also said that it also found evidence of the involvement of an inter-state gang with roots in Jharkhand, which worked with a ‘solver gang’ in Bihar.

EOU suspects the ‘solver gang’ members from Nalanda procured the question paper from Jharkhand and solved it with help of experts before passing it to two other accused, Nitish Kumar of Patna and Amit Anand of Khagaria. The four examinees were allegedly put in touch with Nitish and Amit by Danapur Municipal Council junior engineer Sikander P Yadavendu, another key accused in the case.

Anatomy of a ‘leak’ – and a tip-off

On the night of May 4, when the four NEET aspirants were allegedly memorising the solved paper, Patna police received a call from a Jharkhand-based police official that the next day’s exam may have been leaked. Patna police swung into action, but couldn’t immediately narrow down where the accused were, probe officers told The Indian Express.

The exam was conducted at 27 centres in Bihar the following day. By the afternoon of May 5, Shastri Nagar police station got specific leads on some suspects having gathered at a house in Rajbanshi Nagar. Three teams were formed – one raided the house and seized a burnt question paper. Another visited an exam centre in the area and arrested an examinee and his father. And the third searched for a key accused, Yadavendu, the junior engineer.

With Yadavendu revealing names and whereabouts of more suspects, police arrested three more examinees as well as four ‘setters’, including Nitish and Amit. The confessional statements of the 13 accused were recorded before sub-inspector Tej Narayan Singh on May 5 itself.

The arrests became public on May 7 – by the time, all 13 accused had been sent to judicial custody under charges of criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy. Patna police initially refrained from calling it a paper leak, though the confessional statements indicated that it was.

As pressure mounted, the Bihar government handed over the probe to the EOU, an independent investigating agency, on May 11.

EOU was more forthright in indicating there had been a leak, based on evidence such as the burnt question paper and post-dated cheques. Nitish had said in his confession statement to the police that they had demanded Rs 30-Rs 32 lakh for each student from Yadavendu, who allegedly asked for Rs 40 lakh from each aspirant.

The EOU also issued a show cause notice to nine more examinees on suspicion of being alleged beneficiaries of the leak. Two of the nine have appeared before the unit so far.

“We are trying to reconstruct the full story… The burnt question paper could be from a Hazaribag examination centre,” said a source.

The EOU team led by Khan has also been to Delhi to brief the education ministry on the progress in the case.