NEET Leak: NTA director admits no frisking, weak CCTV security at confidential hall

During its investigation, the CBI found that one of the senior Chemistry subject experts had been taking private coaching classes and Kumar had enquired about her.

He is learnt to have told the CBI that she was the most senior Chemistry subject expert associated with the NTA and had a good reputation within the agency. And because she had been providing services for several examinations including NEET, JEE Main and CUET-UG, there was no reason to believe otherwise, he is learnt to have said. Kumar told the CBI that the list of experts, subject experts were selected from a list available with the agency after approval from the Director General, NTA. The list included experts from school education, universities and research institutions.

In his testimony, he is learnt to have said that while selecting experts, the NTA ensured there was no adverse reporting against them and that the quality of questions set by them in previous examinations was of good standard. If any question prepared by an expert was dropped after the answer-key challenge process, the expert would not be considered in the next examination cycle, he told the CBI.

The subject experts, according to Kumar, had submitted certificates of confidentiality declaring absolute secrecy regarding the confidential assignments given to them and the contents of the test items prepared by them.

He also told the CBI that the experts also submitted undertakings stating that none of their near relatives was appearing in the examination and that they were not directly or indirectly associated with coaching institutions.

The CBI has found that three subject experts took exam questions out of the NTA office in Delhi using different methods — one scrawled questions on paper chits before hiding them while two others memorised the questions, returned to their hotel rooms to either write them down or mark the relevant paragraphs in NCERT textbooks.

According to the CBI, they could do this because they were not frisked while exiting the “confidential section”, a wing situated on the first floor of the NTA office, which also lacked a dedicated CCTV live feed monitoring control room.

Kumar is learnt to have told the CBI that experts entering the confidential hall were not frisked, but their integrity was ensured by barring them from carrying personal belongings, mobile phones, pens or paper inside. The CBI, it is learnt, asked Kumar under whose orders, and for what reason, frisking had been discontinued. He is said to have replied that he had joined the NTA in February 2026 and had followed the practice that was already in place at the time.

One of the consultants of NEET, Shilpi Sharma, is learnt to have told the CBI that there was no frisking or checking system for subject experts when they entered or exited the confidential section of the NTA.

She is learnt to have said that the guard posted at the entrance was responsible for asking subject experts whether they were carrying any paper, mobile phone, pen drive or other material. Such items were required to be kept outside the hall in a large plastic box, both at the time of entry and exit, she told the CBI.

Another consultant Vikash Kumar Pathak is learnt to have said he had submitted a proposal to expand CCTV storage capacity at the agency, which remained pending despite the existing system retaining footage for only up to 25 days.

Pathak told the CBI that there are 110 CCTV cameras installed on the first floor of NTA, while six cameras are installed in the Command Control Room on the fifth floor, which receives feeds from examination centres. Seven CCTV cameras are installed on the fifth floor of Confidential Hall.