The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has made a significant breakthrough in the NEET-UG paper leaks case by arresting Aman Singh, alleged to be the kingpin of the paper leaks racket, from Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh. This is the seventh arrest made by the CBI in connection with the case.
Earlier, the CBI had arrested the owner of a private school in Godhra district of Gujarat, Dixit Patel, for allegedly soliciting between ₹5 lakh and ₹10 lakh from candidates, promising to enhance their examination scores.
The NEET-UG examination was conducted by the National Testing Agency on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities in the country and 14 cities abroad, with 23 lakh candidates appearing for the examination. The results were declared on June 4, which led to widespread protests in the country after an unprecedented 67 candidates achieved a perfect score of 720 marks out of 720. The CBI had registered a criminal case on June 23 over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the NEET-UG and UGC-NET exams by the NTA and formed special teams to probe the matter.
Identifying the arrested journalist as Jamaluddin Ansari, who works with a Hindi newspaper in the state, the officials said he was arrested on Friday for allegedly trying to help Principal Ehsanul Haque and Vice-Principal Imtiaz Alam of Oasis School in Hazaribagh. Both of them are accused in the paper leak case and were taken into custody yesterday.Meanwhile, the CBI investigating teams on Saturday searched seven premises of suspects in Gujarat’s Anand, Kheda, Ahmedabad, and Godhra districts.These searches were conducted as part of the agency’s probe into a larger conspiracy spread across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, Delhi, and Jharkhand.
Conducts searches in Gujarat.
According to the officials, a special CBI court in Godhra on Saturday granted the probe agency four-day custody of Jay Jalaram School’s principal Purushottam Sharma, teacher Tushar Bhatt, and middlemen Vibhor Anand and Arif Vohra, all of whom are alleged to be involved in irregularities in the May 5 NEET-UG exam in Godhra. the Gujarat Police had arrested five people, including the principal and the teacher, in connection with the paper leak case.
The officials said that the agency in its investigation so far has found that the examination centers in Godhra and Kheda chosen by the National Testing Agency (NTA) were controlled by the same school administration. Sources in the agency said that the accused allegedly asked candidates arranged by them from Odisha, Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh to mark Godhra as their examination center and choose Gujarati as their language.
A source in the agency said, “The CBI’s probe so far has established that the identified accused, who were responsible for conducting the examination in a free, fair and transparent manner, were themselves involved in arranging candidates and facilitating them to attain good marks for a hefty consideration.” He went on to add that the arranged candidates allegedly mentioned their addresses of Panchmahal and Vadodara in Gujarat.
CBI Arrests Two Persons from Patna.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has taken up the probe into alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG, made its first arrests on Thursday, June 27, by nabbing two persons from Patna. As per CBI officials the arrested persons – Manish Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar – allegedly housed NEET aspirants at a school in Patna a day before the exam on May 4 and provided them with leaked question paper. The examinees were then made to memorise the answers before they appeared for the exam on May 5. Prakash’s wife Archana told the Indian Express, The CBI called me around 1:30 pm to say that my husband has been arrested. He is a social worker who would often help people with making stay arrangements for students. I had heard someone asking him on the phone to make arrangements for four to five students. We had no idea about the enormity of trouble he has now landed in.
On the other hand, the central probe agency had tried to track the prime accused Sanjiv Mukhiya on Wednesday, but to no avail. Mukhiya is absconding from his village in Nalanda. The probe agency suspects that he may have fled to Nepal. The CBI is said to have received more information on another accused, Sikandar Yadavendu, who has already been arrested by the Bihar Police. Yadavendu had allegedly introduced the four examinees to ‘setters’ Nitish Kumar and Amit Anand, the IE report said.
FAQ’s
Q1: Who has been arrested by the CBI in connection with the NEET paper leak probe?
A: A journalist, Jamaluddin Ansari, from Jharkhand.
Q2: What is the NEET paper leak probe about?
A: The probe is investigating alleged irregularities in the conduct of the NEET-UG and UGC-NET exams by the National Testing Agency
Q3: What was unusual about the results declared on June 4?
A: An unprecedented 67 candidates achieved a perfect score of 720 marks out of 720, leading to widespread protests in the country.
Q4: When was the NEET-UG examination conducted?
A: May 5, at 4,750 centres in 571 cities in the country and 14 cities abroad.
Q5: What was unusual about the results declared on June 4?
A: An unprecedented 67 candidates achieved a perfect score of 720 marks out of 720, leading to widespread protests in the country.
Q6: How did the accused allegedly facilitate candidates to attain good marks?
A: By arranging candidates from Odisha, Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh to mark Godhra as their examination center and choose Gujarati as their language, and providing them with leaked question papers.
