NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of India (CBI) on Thursday revealed how burnt question papers found at a hostel in Bihar’s Patna led the probe agency to crack the case.
The CBI said the paper leak ‘mastermind‘ Pankaj Kumar acted in collusion with the principal and the vice principal of Oasis School in Hazaribagh to access the question paper hours before the commencement of the exam on May 5.
The CBI said it could identify the centre using half-burnt papers recovered from a hostel in Patna.
“The trunks containing the NEET UG 2024 question papers were brought to the school and kept in the control room in the morning of 05-05-2024. Minutes after the trunks arrived, the above said principal and vice principal unauthorisedly and illegally allowed access to the room where the trunks were kept, to the mastermind named above. The sophisticated tools used to open the trunk and access the question papers from the trunk have been seized,” a CBI spokesperson said.
On the morning of the NEET-UG 2024 exam, a group of solvers studying MBBS at AIIMS Patna, RIMS Ranchi, and a medical college in Bharatpur solved the exam paper in Hazaribagh. The CBI has since arrested seven individuals suspected of being involved in this scheme.
“The solved paper was distributed to select students who paid for it. We have identified and arrested most of the MBBS students involved, who were brought to Hazaribagh as part of the conspiracy,” stated a CBI spokesperson.
Other members of the gang, including those who collaborated with Kumar, have also been identified, and some have been apprehended.
“This group was supported by individuals who provided accommodation for the candidates, while others were responsible for mobilizing and transporting them. We are currently tracing the candidates who accessed the solved paper and taking appropriate action,” the CBI added.
To date, the agency has arrested 36 people in connection with the case.
In a blow to those who failed the exam, the Supreme Court dismissed petitions calling for the cancellation and retest of the NEET-UG 2024 exam. The court found no evidence to prove that the exam was fundamentally compromised by a “systemic breach.”
Nonetheless, the court acknowledged that the question paper leak in Hazaribagh and Patna is confirmed. Referring to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s status report, the court noted that “155 students from the Hazaribagh and Patna exam centers appeared to be beneficiaries of the fraud.”
(With agency inputs)
The CBI said the paper leak ‘mastermind‘ Pankaj Kumar acted in collusion with the principal and the vice principal of Oasis School in Hazaribagh to access the question paper hours before the commencement of the exam on May 5.
The CBI said it could identify the centre using half-burnt papers recovered from a hostel in Patna.
“The trunks containing the NEET UG 2024 question papers were brought to the school and kept in the control room in the morning of 05-05-2024. Minutes after the trunks arrived, the above said principal and vice principal unauthorisedly and illegally allowed access to the room where the trunks were kept, to the mastermind named above. The sophisticated tools used to open the trunk and access the question papers from the trunk have been seized,” a CBI spokesperson said.
On the morning of the NEET-UG 2024 exam, a group of solvers studying MBBS at AIIMS Patna, RIMS Ranchi, and a medical college in Bharatpur solved the exam paper in Hazaribagh. The CBI has since arrested seven individuals suspected of being involved in this scheme.
“The solved paper was distributed to select students who paid for it. We have identified and arrested most of the MBBS students involved, who were brought to Hazaribagh as part of the conspiracy,” stated a CBI spokesperson.
Other members of the gang, including those who collaborated with Kumar, have also been identified, and some have been apprehended.
“This group was supported by individuals who provided accommodation for the candidates, while others were responsible for mobilizing and transporting them. We are currently tracing the candidates who accessed the solved paper and taking appropriate action,” the CBI added.
To date, the agency has arrested 36 people in connection with the case.
In a blow to those who failed the exam, the Supreme Court dismissed petitions calling for the cancellation and retest of the NEET-UG 2024 exam. The court found no evidence to prove that the exam was fundamentally compromised by a “systemic breach.”
Nonetheless, the court acknowledged that the question paper leak in Hazaribagh and Patna is confirmed. Referring to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s status report, the court noted that “155 students from the Hazaribagh and Patna exam centers appeared to be beneficiaries of the fraud.”
(With agency inputs)
Source Agencies
