NEET UG row: CBI arrests NIT graduate, 2 MBBS students

New Delhi: The CBI Saturday arrested an NIT-Jamshedpur B.Tech graduate, one of the masterminds, in the NEET-UG paper leak case and two MBBS students who allegedly solved the exam papers for money, officials said. With the fresh arrests, the total number of people held so far by the agency in six cases related to the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam has now reached 21, they said.

They said that the two MBBS students arrested on Saturday -- Kumar Mangalam Bishnoi (2nd year) and Deepender Sharma (1st year) -- are from a medical school in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, and they solved the exam papers stolen by Pankaj Kumar, an engineer, from an National Testing Agency trunk in Hazaribagh.

The two "solvers" were present in Hazaribagh on May 5, the date the NEET-UG examination was conducted across the country. According to sources, these two were were part of the solver module in which five MBBS students have already been arrested. The answers were handed over to NEET UG aspirants who had availed the services of the gang, they said.

They also said the third person arrested on Saturday -- Sashikant Paswan alias Sashi alias Pasu, a B.Tech (Electrical) passout from the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur -- was acting in tandem with Kumar and Rockey, who was also arrested earlier. The agency alleged that Paswan is one of the kingpins and masterminds in the paper leak case. The paper leak case was taken over by the CBI from the Bihar Police.

The CBI has already arrested Pankaj Kumar, who stole the paper, and Raju Singh who had helped him in the process. One of the masterminds -- Rockey -- was also arrested by the agency. On Thursday, it arrested one Surender Sharma, who also helped Kumar in Hazaribagh. The central probe agency, which is investigating the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam, has lodged six FIRs. The FIR from Bihar pertains to paper leak while the remaining ones from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are regarding impersonation of candidates and cheating.

The agency's own FIR, on a reference from the Union Education Ministry, pertains to a "comprehensive investigation" into the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024. The NEET-UG is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions. This year, the exam was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. More than 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the test.