Has the Bihar police already solved the NEET case? Details below

PTC News Desk: On Sunday, May 5, in the early hours of the day, 2.4 million students flocked to test centers nationwide to take the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), often known as NEET-UG, a nationwide exam required for admission to medical programs. An anonymous tip was received by the Patna division of the Bihar Police from colleagues in Jharkhand.

They were informed that there was a car circling the city, and they had suspicions about something fishy going on—its occupants might be trying to get past the inspection procedure. They didn't know anything about the car, but they did know that it was registered with the four-digit number 0019.

Based on the information, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Patna deputy inspector general Rajeev Mishra instructed SHOs throughout the city to locate the car. They had some luck at 2.45 p.m. They discovered the desired license plate, JH 01 BW 0019, on a white Renault Duster at a police roadblock close to Shastri Nagar. Three guys, four distinct NEET admit cards, another applicant's PAN card, and passport-sized photos were found inside.

Thus began a month-long investigation by the Bihar Police that pieced together the details of one of India's most sought-after competitive exams being compromised. This led to the opening of an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on June 24, raised concerns about the operation of the National Testing Agency (NTA), whose director general has been removed, and generated increasing calls for the exam to be cancelled.

This inquiry found unmistakable anomalies in NEET's operations, including the potential for the paper to have leaked, and—above all—it pinpointed the source of the leak—a Jharkhand school.

Three men were discovered in the car on Sunday by the Bihar Police: Akhilesh Kumar, the father of NEET candidate Ayush Raj, Bittu Kumar, the driver of 56-year-old Sikandar Prasad Yadavendu, a junior engineer working for the Danapur Nagar Parishad.

During interrogation, senior Bihar police officers claimed that Yadavendu disclosed to them that two individuals, Amit Anand and Nitish Kumar, had approached him in the days preceding the exam and claimed to be able to arrange for exam papers to be released 24 hours beforehand. Anand, 29, works as an IT engineer and is supposedly based in Bengaluru. His mother, Chandan Kumari, is the vice-president of the Khagaria section of the Janata Dal (United). Nitish Kumar, one of his associates, is a contractor headquartered in Bihar.

Yadavendu informed the police that each candidate was required to pay between ₹30 and ₹32 lakh by Amit Anand and Nitish Kumar. One police officer stated, "Yadavendu in turn, demanded ₹40 lakh from each candidate so he could pocket Rs 8 lakh."

Yadavendu informed the Bihar Police that he had put the families of four candidates in contact with the two men: Ayush, Anurag Kumar, Shivanandan Kumar, and Abhishek Kumar. They met Nitish Kumar and Amit Anand on May 4, and they were escorted to the Learn Boys Hostel and Play School in Patna's Khemnichak by them.

One investigator stated, "We located their testing locations and took the four applicants into custody for further examination."

On May 5, at 6:30 p.m., a FIR was filed at the Shastri Nagar police station. That same day, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed by the Patna SSP. The Learn Boys Hostel and Play School were raided by the SIT that evening, and their method of operation was to force candidates to memorize the answers to a question paper they already had. During the police search, a bundle of partially burned documents was discovered. The Forensic Science Laboratory received it from us. The booklet number was found by the FSL team in some way, according to DIG Rajeev Mishra.

After six days, the case was transferred to the Economic Offenses Unit (EOU), which detained five additional individuals from Deoghar, Jharkhand, who went by the names of Baldeo Kumar, Mukesh Kumar, Panku Kumar, Rajeev Kumar, and Paramjeet Singh. Thus far, the case has resulted in the arrest of eighteen people.

Baldev Kumar and the other four guys received the paper as a PDF on May 4 and printed it out using a printer at the Learn Boys Hostel and Play school, according to EOU officials. They then gave the documents to the candidates. The gang established a "drop-off point" two kilometers from the Learn Boys Hostel, according to NH Khan, additional director general of police EOU, where applicants were instructed to get out of a leased car and travel to the hostel.

Sanjeev Mukhia, 53, is the only person the EOU had not yet arrested before the CBI took over the case. He is purportedly the leader of the "solver gang," a technical assistant at a government college in Nalanda by trade, and he was previously arrested by the Uttarakhand Police in 2016 for another examination leak case. He was accused of leaking the NEET-UG question paper on that occasion as well. He was detained in Nainital jail for 14 months before being granted bail in 2018. His son Shiv Kumar, who was detained in April 2024 for his involvement in the BPSC TRE competitive test paper leak, is presently incarcerated. An officer stated, "Mukhia organised the NEET question paper and gave it to a man named Rocky, who we are investigating."

The EOU team was investigating how the paper was leaked when they came across the serial code on the papers that were seized from Patna, which directed them to the Oasis School test center in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. Officials from the EOU visited the school on June 20. "We tracked down the package and envelope that the T3 set of exam papers were sent from the testing facility in. According to preliminary investigations, it was resealed to resemble an authentic sheet after being torn at the back, the EOU official stated.

Senior officials added that the Bihar Police team in Hazaribagh, under the direction of an extra superintendent of police, has also examined two boxes that the exam papers were transported in. The two boxes appear to have been tampered with. The exam center superintendent reported that a technical problem prevented the digital locks on both boxes from being unlocked, necessitating their breaking open, the officer added.

"After discovering that not only the seal but also the latches and hinges had been tampered with, our suspicions have grown." The boxes' upper part was undamaged, but the envelopes within had also been tampered with from the back. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) has received all of this material, the officer stated.

Dr. Ehsan Ul Haq, the principal of Oasis School, refuted any misconduct. In accordance with NTA guidelines, the NEET-UG exam was administered on May 5, 2024, at five locations in Hazaribagh. In a press release on Monday, Haq stated, "We received the sealed question papers in a total of 9 boxes at SBI Bank on May 5, 2024, at 7:30 am. We then handed the sealed boxes to the center superintendent and the posted observer of all five examination centers of Hazaribagh in the presence of the bank manager."

He was taken into custody on Wednesday by the CBI, which took over the case from the Bihar Police on June 25.

According to Haq, they were just made aware of any potential misconduct on June 21st, the day the Bihar Police team showed there. "In accordance with NTA regular operating process, the boxes containing the question papers were received on May 5, 2024. However, based on the purportedly acquired information, the question paper copy was accessible in Patna on May 4. How can I be held accountable in this circumstance? On May 5, 2024, after 7:30 am, I received the boxes of questions, and I fulfilled my obligation fully. In the probe, the EOU team has my complete support, as does my staff," Haq added.

Also Read: UPSC CAPF recruitment 2024: Assistant commandant exam date announced, check the schedule

Officials from the Bihar EOU have also accused the NTA of impeding their investigations, claiming that the organisation failed to provide them with sample question papers when the investigation commenced in May. "We requested it, but it was never provided to us. We didn't receive the paper until June 20, when the EOU was summoned to Delhi and the question of why the samples hadn't been sent after three reminders was brought up. We knew right away that the burnt booklet was from the Oasis school in Hazaribagh as soon as we received the sample. One EOU officer stated, "We were able to match 68 questions—from the NTA samples we received to those in the burnt booklet—right there."

ADG EOU NH Khan stated that the CBI was now handling the case and that all of the evidence gathered by the Bihar Police would be turned over. Khan added, "We also have to turn in our report to the Supreme Court, which we will do in a sealed envelope with the most recent information about our investigation and the evidence we have so far gathered."

Also Read: Bengaluru court rejects Prajwal Revanna's bail plea in sexual assault case