Patna: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested two individuals, Manish Prakash and Ashutosh, in Patna on Thursday in connection with the NEET paper leak case. The suspects had booked the Play and Learn School in Patna for the night, where 20 to 25 candidates were gathered and coached to memorize answers. Pieces of burnt booklets were found at the site.
The central investigation agency has been questioning 11 individuals over the past two days. The CBI took over the case from the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police on June 26. To date, more than 27 arrests have been made across five states.
On Thursday, the CBI team arrived at Beur Jail in Patna at 1 pm to medically examine and take Baldev Kumar alias Chintu and Mukesh Kumar on an 8-day remand. The CBI intends to interrogate the suspects at various locations. Chintu, a relative of Sanjeev Mukhiya, the mastermind behind the NEET paper leak, allegedly received the paper on his mobile phone, while Mukesh transported candidates to the school for memorization sessions.
The CBI team also took Ehsan Ul Haq, the principal of Oasis School in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, to the school for questioning. After two hours of interrogation at the school on Madai Road, the team returned with the principal to the CCL Guest House in Charhi.
According to CBI and police sources, on May 3, the question paper was first brought to Oasis School instead of being delivered directly to the bank from the Hazaribagh Nutan Nagar Center of the courier agency Blue Dart. This has raised suspicions that the question paper packet might have been tampered with at the school.
The CBI has not yet commented on these findings. However, during the inquiry at the school, the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team was called, and some evidence was collected.
There is also suspicion that the UGC NET examination paper might have been leaked from Oasis School. The CBI has seized a mobile phone and laptop belonging to the school’s vice principal and center superintendent, Imtiaz Alam, to further investigate this lead.
The school principal, Dr. Ehsanul Haq, faced rigorous questioning over three key issues:
1. The EOU team had discovered tampering in the question paper packet during their investigation. Despite being the city coordinator for the National Testing Agency (NTA), Dr. Haq failed to notice the tampering, which was professionally done.
2. Cut marks were found at the bottom of the packet from the principal’s school, raising suspicions that he might have known about the tampering.
3. The question paper was delivered to the exam hall 15 minutes late, contrary to the scheduled time.
The CBI is investigating the paper leak case across six states: Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, to identify the mastermind behind the operation. The agency suspects that the individuals arrested in various states are merely contractors and that the real culprit is still at large.
On Wednesday, Dr. Ehsanul Haq was questioned for six hours and later taken to the CCL Guest House in Charhi. After further questioning, the CBI released two individuals after making them sign a bond.
