Patna/Ranchi: The investigation into the NEET-UG question paper leak expanded on Saturday as Bihar police’s Economic Offences Unit (EOU) arrested six more individuals in Deoghar, Jharkhand. This brings the total number of arrests in connection with the case to 19. Street protests across India are intensifying, with increasing calls for the cancellation of the medical entrance exam.
Officials revealed that the six arrested individuals, suspected to be “handlers” and “couriers,” are residents of Bihar’s Nalanda district. They had been hiding in Deoghar, posing as laborers to avoid detection. The EOU nabbed them from their “safe house” and transported them to Patna on transit remand.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Paramjit Singh, alias Bittu; Baldev Kumar, alias Chintu; Prashant Kumar, alias Kaju; Ajit Kumar; Rajiv Kumar, alias Karu; and Pinku Kumar. EOU Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Manavjit Singh Dhillon is interrogating them at EOU headquarters in Patna.
“The gang had been plotting this for months. A professor from Hazaribagh sent the question papers to Sanjiv using WhatsApp. Later, with the help of medical students from Patna and Ranchi, the paper was solved”, a top official stated. Once solved, the paper was sent along with the answers to Chintu of Karai Parsurai. Following Chintu’s directions, Pintu of Nalanda made photocopies and distributed them early on May 5 to around 30 candidates at the ‘safe house,’ identified as a closed play school in Patna’s Khemnichak area.
The probe has also revealed that Sanjiv Mukhiya, alias Luta, a technical assistant at Noorsarai Horticulture College in Nalanda, could be the mastermind behind the paper leak racket.
In addition to the arrests in Deoghar, a separate team visited Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, following reports of a NEET-UG paper leak from one of the five exam centers there. In Ranchi, the team visited the office of a private courier firm to investigate whether the question papers had been couriered to other cities. The investigation began with a tip-off to Patna police on May 5, leading to the unraveling of a suspected nationwide fraud network.
As the investigation continues, public outrage is growing. Protesters are demanding strict action against those involved and calling for the exam to be canceled to ensure fairness and integrity in the selection process for aspiring medical students.
