Patna: Officials of the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) claimed to have found the evidence that parents of a few medical aspirants have paid up to ₹50 lakh to obtain the question paper of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) early this month.
The EOU has made this disclosure in an affidavit that it submitted in the Patna High Court recently. The EOU of Bihar police, which has taken over the probe, is said to have added six more names of medical aspirants, who had allegedly received the question paper and answers ahead of exam on May 5.
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The National Testing Agency (NTA) has conducted the NEET undergraduate (UG) exam 2024, essential for medical course admissions, across the country on May 5, including Bihar. Reports of question paper leak begun circulating the social media shortly after the exam began at various centres. Acting swiftly, the Patna police had arrested 13 individuals in connection with the question paper leak. Those arrested in the case include medical aspirants, parents, linemen, their associates, and a driver, have been nabbed and forwarded to judicial custody.
Police officials said that 12 of them were taken on remand by the EOU’s investigating team on May 19 for interrogation. Aspirants have reportedly admitted receiving a question paper similar to the leaked paper from a lineman named Sikander Yadavendu, a junior engineer in Danapur Nagar Parishad in Patna.
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Deputy inspector general (DIG) of EOU, Manavjit Singh Dhillon said that the aspirants confessed to having received the marked question paper at a secluded house in Ramkrishna Nagar, which was taken on rent by the lineman. A total of 35 aspirants were given marked question papers on May 4.
“We have collected the burnt question papers from the site and forwarded to to FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) team for critical examination,” said Dhillon, adding that six more aspirants from Bihar and other states have been identified for questioning.
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Meanwhile, the EOU is working on the strategy to reach out to the main gang involved in the question paper leak and supply the papers to certain persons including the Danapur lineman. “The other aspirants, who stayed at the rented room will be identified through the roll codes, which was recovered from the flat. We have sent the roll codes to the NTA to obtain the aspirants details,” added the DIG.
The NTA conducted the NEET examination at 4,750 centers across 571 cities.
