NEET-UG paper leak row: Bihar Police arrest six from Jharkhand's Deoghar

Deoghar: The Bihar Police detained six people from Jharkhand's Deoghar district in connection with the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam NEET, an official said on Saturday. They were detained from a house near AIIMS-Deoghar in Devipur police station area on Friday night, he said.

"The Bihar Police gave us a tip-off. On our identification, they were taken into custody. All the suspects have been taken to Bihar," SDPO (Deoghar Sadar) Ritvik Srivastava told PTI. The suspects were allegedly living at the house of one Jhunu Singh, he said.

They were identified as Paramjit Singh alias Bittu, Chintu alias Baldev Kumar, Kaju alias Prashant Kumar, Ajit Kumar, Rajiv Kumar alias Karu, all residents of Nalanda district of Bihar, and Panku Kumar, according to a statement issued by the Deoghar Police.

NEET-UG was conducted by the NTA on May 5 with around 24 lakh candidates taking part in it. The results were announced on June 4, but they were followed by allegations of question paper leaks in states such as Bihar, besides other irregularities.

Cops obtain reference question papers
The Bihar Police's Economic Offences Unit, which is probing the alleged NEET-UG paper leak case, on Saturday, claimed to have obtained reference question papers of the test conducted by NTA and planned to compare these with documents recovered from a flat in Patna during a search operation last month.

The EOU is also exploring the "possibility of conducting narco analysis and brain mapping tests" of some arrested accused in the case, state police sources said.

They also indicated that the Enforcement Directorate might investigate the money laundering aspect of the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance examination -the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET, conducted by the National Testing Agency in May.

"We had requested the NTA for the reference question papers after we began the probe last month. Finally, they did the needful. We will tally these papers with partially burnt papers seized from a Patna flat last month. This exercise is likely to be done before a forensic examination of such documents," an EOU source said.

Top officials of the EOU are likely to visit Delhi on Saturday to "discuss certain aspects pertaining to the ongoing probe with the senior officials of the Union Education Ministry and other concerned wings", he said.

"Based on EOU's FIR, the Enforcement Directorate may probe the matter under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The central agency is expected to identify proceeds of crime and initiate proceedings to attach properties belonging to the accused or suspects," said another source of the Economic Offences Unit.

Commenting on this, Abhayanand, former director general of police (DGP), Bihar, told PTI, There is no doubt that grave offences have been committed in the NEET-UG 2024 exam. Prima facie, it appears that the paper was leaked and the evidence collected so far is also suggestive of the paper leak. The case must be probed under the provisions of the PMLA as black money is involved in it."

It is also learnt that certain arrested accused in the case are "providing conflicting statements or changing their statements during interrogation", the EOU sources said.

"Investigators are not satisfied with the statements of certain accused. Although they have been questioned several times, their replies are not convincing. Now officials are contemplating conducting brain mapping and narco-analysis tests. These scientific tests may provide certain fresh leads to investigators," one of the EOU sources said.

The EOU had last month arrested 13 people as part of its investigation into the alleged paper leak in the NEET-UG 2024 exam.