CBI files first charge sheet in NEET exam paper leak case against 13 accused

The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) has filed its first charge sheet in the alleged NEET-UG examination paper leak case, naming 13 people as accused, officials said on Thursday.

In the charge sheet filed before a special CBI court in Patna, the agency has invoked IPC sections of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and destruction of evidence among others.

The Central agency has named 13 accused — Nitish Kumar, Amit Anand, Sikander Yadvendu, Ashutosh Kumar-1, Roshan Kumar, Manish Prakash, Ashutosh Kumar-2, Akhilesh Kumar, Avdesh Kumar, Anurag Yadav, Abhishek Kumar, Shivnandan Kumar and Ayush Raj.

All were arrested by Bihar Police during its probe between the examination date of 5 May and the day the CBI took over the investigation on 23 June, the officials said. The charge sheet mentions the alleged role of the 13 accused and the probe details, they said.

"It may be recalled that this case was initially registered at Shastri Nagar Police Station, Patna on 5 May 2024 and later transferred to CBI on 23 June 2024. CBI has utilised advanced forensic techniques, artificial intelligence technology, CCTV footage, tower location analysis, etc. to gather evidence against the accused," a CBI spokesperson said.

The CBI has so far arrested 25 accused, while 15 have been arrested by the Bihar Police.

The Central probe agency has kept its probe open against the masterminds and key accused who had orchestrated and executed the alleged leak from Oasis School in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, which will be detailed in upcoming charge sheets, the officials said.

During its investigation in the NEET paper leak case, the agency arrested main accused Pankaj Kumar who had stolen the NEET-UG 2024 question paper from Oasis School in connivance with principal Ehsanul Haque, also the NTA (National Testing Agency) city coordinator, and vice-principal Imtiaz Alam, who was the centre superintendent on 5 May. All three have been arrested by the agency. Their roles will be part of upcoming charge sheets, the officials said.

The CBI managed to pinpoint the school as the source of the leaked question paper from half-burnt papers recovered from a hostel in Patna. The agency has found that the trunks containing NEET-UG 2024 question papers were brought to the school and kept in the control room on the morning of 5 May.

Minutes after the trunks arrived, the principal and vice-principal illegally allowed Kumar the access to the room where the trunks were kept. Kumar, a 2017-batch civil engineer from the National Institute of Technology in Jamshedpur, allegedly used sophisticated tools to open the trunk and access the question papers, the officials said.

The CBI has seized the tools and CCTV footage of the room where the trunks were kept, they said. The paper was solved at Hazaribagh on the morning of examination by a set of seven solvers who are studying in MBBS courses at AIIMS Patna, RIMS Ranchi and a Medical College in Bharatpur. The agency has arrested alleged solvers.

"The solved paper was shared with certain selected students who paid money to the accused. All the solvers, who are MBBS students from reputed colleges, have been identified and most of them arrested. These solvers were specially brought to Hazaribagh as part of the conspiracy," the CBI spokesperson said.

Other gang members who acted with Kumar have been identified and some of them arrested. "This group was actively assisted by a set of accused persons who arranged places for housing the candidates, another set of accused were involved in mobilising and ferrying the candidates. The candidates who gained access to the solved question paper are being traced and necessary action is being taken," the CBI had said.

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 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. More than 23 lakh candidates appeared for the test.