According to Education Minister Pradhan, Bihar NEET was carried out satisfactorily throughout the nation, except for problems in six out of about 4,500 centers. Although he refuted claims of a paper leak, he did say that “no one will be spared” if anything turns out to be true.
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), which was held on May 5, is being investigated for possible paper leaks. The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) in Bihar has stated that their inquiry is “suggestive of a paper leak.”
“We had asked a set of questions to the National Testing Agency, which organizes NEET,” Additional Director General of Police, EOU, N H Khan stated in an interview with The Indian Express. Our group recently got responses. We could have some more queries. We have been addressing several contacts that we have come across during our inquiry, which strongly points to a document leak.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that apart from issues faced in just six centers out of roughly 4,500, NEET was conducted satisfactorily across the country. He denied allegations of a paper leak, but added that if anything is proven true, “no one will be spared”.
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“Every aspect is being looked into. Accountability will be fixed and depending on the nature of the lapse, action will be taken. There is no scope for any malpractice or irregularities in the conduct of any exam. We will not tolerate that. The accountability of the National Testing Agency (NTA) will also be fixed if lapses are found,” Pradhan said in response to a question.
“The government is committed to protecting the interests of NEET examinees. Concerns of students will be addressed with fairness and equity. Facts related to NEET are in cognizance of the Supreme Court. The counseling process will be underway soon and it is of utmost importance to move ahead in this direction without any confusion,” he said.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Bihar EOU, which had taken over the probe from Patna police last month, said that admit cards, post-dated cheques, and certificates of several candidates had been seized from members of an “organized inter-state gang”.
“Our SIT is now trying to establish corroborative evidence, such as who got question and answer sheets and from where, and how it could have reached the examination centers,” Khan said.
The eight-member SIT is led by the Superintendent of Police (Administration), EOU, Bihar, Madan Kumar Anand.
“The SIT has seized post-dated cheques, which suggest money was being paid by candidates to an organized gang. We have evidence that suggests question papers were burnt at a center after NEET, but there is not enough proof to confirm that there was a paper leak. We are investigating the matter,” said an EOU source.
“Of the 13 people arrested in the case so far, four are candidates who took the NEET. The remaining are their parents and members of the organized gang, which allegedly gathered 35 candidates before the exam at a school under the jurisdiction of Ramakrishna Nagar police station, and conducted a mock exam. They allegedly received the NEET question paper with answers there,” an EU official said.
“Some remains of the purportedly burnt question papers have been seized from the school,” an EU official said.
One of the arrested accused, Nitish Kumar of Gaya, was arrested by the EOU earlier too — in an alleged paper leak of the Bihar Teacher’s Recruitment Exam, conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission on March 15.
On May 5, Patna police received information about alleged rigging in the NEET conducted at various examination centers there. A case was eventually filed at Shastri Nagar police station.
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