NEET UG paper leak: Action against over 250 students, aspirants for ‘unfair practices’

According to the source, the NMC has issued directives to the medical colleges concerned to suspend these students immediately.

As many as 42 candidates have been debarred from taking the NEET UG examination for three years — 2024, 2025, and 2026. Another nine candidates have been barred from appearing in the examination for two years 2024 and 2025, according to the source.

Last year, questions were raised over the NEET UG examinations after the results were declared. The first sign of trouble was an unusually high 67 students scoring a perfect 720. Others also pointed out that some candidates had scored 719, which was impossible to get with the test giving 4 marks for each correct answer and deducting 1 mark for each incorrect one. This brought to light the issue of grace marks given to 1,563 students who claimed loss of time during the examination. Grace marks were also awarded for another question, where one of the incorrect answers was part of previous versions of CBSE books. These grace marks were cancelled and the affected students were given the option to take the test again.

Then emerged the allegations of question paper leak. The government claimed that the paper leak was restricted to a few centres and was not widespread, adding that there was no need for a re-test.