Jharkhand journalist arrested; CBI gets custody of 4 accused

Meanwhile in Gujarat, the Principal District and Sessions  Judge of Panchmahal district court Saturday remanded in four-day CBI custody the four accused arrested for alleged malpractice in the exam held at Jay Jalaram School in Parvadi.

The court said the case had a “direct effect” on the Right to Education and Health of every Indian citizen as “enshrined in the Constitution of India”. Stating that the investigation into the “malpractice” in which the accused indulged was “a grave public interest” and that the “rights of the investigating officer” could not be ignored, the court granted custody of the accused to the CBI until 4.30 pm on July 2.

The four accused remanded to CBI custody include Tushar Bhatt, who was the NEET-UG centre superintendent in the district; school principal Purshottam Sharma; education consultant Vibhor Anand; and Arif Vohra, a resident of Godhra.

On Friday, the CBI had arrested Dr Ehsanul Haque, the principal of the school, and Imtiaz Alam, vice-principal and Hazaribagh district coordinator for NEET-UG designated by the National Testing Agency in the Jharkhand district.

Both work with the Jharkhand’s Oasis School where investigators suspect the alleged leak occurred.

When The Indian Express had visited the Hazaribagh school earlier this week, Haque had said that a digital lock on two boxes containing question papers did not open at 1.15 pm on May 5 – the day of the exam – as it was supposed to, because of which they had to use a cutter.

He had said that they called the NTA in a panic as it was almost time for the exam to begin, and were told to manually open the digital lock.

The exam centre’s superintendent had told The Indian Express that on June 21, officials of the Bihar economic offences unit came to investigate. The EOU had found that the serial code found on the burnt remains of a leaked question paper in Bihar matched with the Oasis School examination centre in Hazaribagh.

On Thursday, the CBI had arrested two people from Patna, who had allegedly made arrangements for accommodation for NEET-UG examinees on May 4, a day before the exam – the same day they allegedly memorised the solved paper. Four examinees are among 13 accused in the case, besides five more arrests made later.

On June 22, the Ministry of Education had handed over the matter of alleged irregularities in the NEET (UG) examination 2024 to CBI for “a comprehensive investigation”.