Stolen, shared and burned: CBI reveals how NEET-UG 2024 paper was leaked from Hazaribagh center

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has unraveled the sequence of events leading up to the paper leak of the National Eligibility and Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 exam in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh center, accusing the principal and vice principal of a top school in the city of involvement in the scam that caused a nationwide outrage.

In an official statement on July 25, the CBI said that one Pankaj Kumar, aka Aditya, aka Sahil, illegally obtained the NEET-UG 2024 question paper from the Oasis School in Hazaribagh on the morning of May 5, just hours before the exam began.

Hazaribagh National Testing Agency (NTA) City Coordinator and Principal of Oasis School, Ehsanul Haque, and Center Superintendent and school Vice Principal, Imtiaz Alam, gave Pankaj unauthorized access to the room where the question papers were stored, the CBI said.

Trunks containing the NEET-UG 2024 question papers arrived at the school on the morning of May 5, and were kept in the control room. Minutes after the trunks arrived, the principal and vice principal granted Pankaj unauthorized and unlawful access to the control room, where he utilized sophisticated tools to open the trunk and get the question papers. The trunks have been seized.

The CBI claimed that on the morning of the exam, a group of solvers enrolled in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programs at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Patna, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Ranchi, and a medical college in Bharatpur worked together to solve the stolen paper in Hazaribagh.

After that, the solved paper was shared with certain candidates who were able to cough out enough money. The seven members of the solver gang, all MBBS students from reputed colleges, have been detained. According to the CBI, these solvers were specifically sent to Hazaribagh as part of the conspiracy.

Pankaj has been apprehended along with school principal, vice principal, and an accomplice. Some recovered pieces of half-burned question papers helped the investigation agency approach the specified NEET examination center, from where the leak originated.

The CBI said that the applicants who got access to the solved question paper are being tracked down and appropriate action is being taken.

CBI has so far conducted searches in 33 locations, and 36 people have been detained in this case, including 15 by Bihar Police. The investigation is still ongoing.

Earlier, the Supreme Court, while hearing 38 petitions as well as a separate petition filed by over 50 successful Gujarat-based candidates seeking a restraining order against the government and the NTA from canceling the disputed exam, confirmed a paper leak in the NEET-UG 2024 examination.

However, in the hearing on July 23, the apex court ruled that there won't be a retest for the NEET UG 2024 exam, citing a lack of evidence to support a "systemic breach" or that the "sanctity" of the test had been compromised in light of two localized question paper leaks.

Although the court acknowledged that the question paper leak was "not in dispute," it stated that there is currently insufficient evidence in the file to draw the conclusion that "the exam's result was vitiated or that there was a systemic breach in the exam's sanctity."

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud also noted that ordering a fresh exam would have significant repercussions, affecting nearly 24 lakh students who appeared for the exam.

The NEET-UG 2024 examination was held on May 5 by the NTA across hundreds of centers in India for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions. The results were released unexpectedly soon on June 4, ten days ahead of schedule, with an astonishing 67 toppers.