CBI Files First Charge Sheet in NEET-UG Paper Leak Case Against 13 Accused

CBI Files First Charge Sheet in Alleged NEET Paper Leak Case Against 13 Accused

In its charge sheet filed before a special CBI court in Patna, the agency has invoked IPC sections of criminal conspiracy, cheating, destruction of evidence among others. The CBI has filed its first charge sheet in the alleged NEET UG examination paper leak case naming 13 people as accused, officials said Thursday. In its charge sheet filed before a special CBI court in Patna, the agency has invoked IPC sections of criminal conspiracy, cheating, destruction of evidence among others. The central agency has named 13 accused people - 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. They were arrested by Bihar Police during its probe between the date of examination May 5 and the day CBI took over investigation on June 23, 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 May 05, 2024 and later transferred to CBI on June 23, 2024. CBI has utilized advanced Forensic Techniques, Artificial Intelligence Technology, CCTV footages, Tower location analysis, etc. to gather evidence against the accused," CBI's 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, 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 paper from Oasis School in connivance with principal Ehsanul Haque, also the NTA city coordinator, and vice principal Imtiaz Alam, who was the centre superintendent on May 5, the date of the examination. 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 leaked paper from the half burnt papers recovered from a hostel in Patna. The agency has found that the trunks containing the NEET UG 2024 question papers were brought to the school and kept in the control room in the morning of May 5. 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 from the trunk, 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 had said. Other masterminds 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 on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. More than 23 lakh candidates appeared for the test.

NEET paper leak case: CBI names 13 accused in its first charge sheet

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed its first charge sheet in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate or NEET-UG exam paper leak probe, naming 13 accused persons, adding that its investigations are continuing in the case. The federal agency said in a statement that it used "advanced forensic techniques, artificial intelligence, CCTV footage, (mobile) tower location analysis, etc. to gather evidence against the accused." It has so far arrested 40 people, including an alleged mastermind of the paper leak from a Hazaribagh school, several MBBS students who acted as solvers, and facilitators. Among those named in the first charge sheet are 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. The anti-corruption probe agency initiated a larger conspiracy probe in the leak on June 23, acting on a reference from the Union ministry of education, which said the exam was marred by irregularities, cheating, impersonation, and other malpractices. It formed special teams to investigate the leaks in different states and carried out raids at 58 locations in the last 39 days. A CBI spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday, "CBI has utilized advanced forensic techniques, artificial intelligence technology, CCTV footage, tower location analysis, etc. to gather evidence against the accused." The agency, he said, "is continuing further investigation against other accused/suspects and on other aspects of the case." "As and when further investigation against these accused/suspects is complete, supplementary charge sheet(s) will be filed," the spokesperson added. The Supreme Court last month instructed the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Central government to submit affidavits detailing their actions and asked for a status report from the CBI. Acknowledging compromise in the NEET-UG exam due to a question paper leak, the Supreme Court also directed the NTA to outline measures taken to identify beneficiaries of the leak. In its affidavit, the Union government said there were no large-scale breach of confidentiality in the pan-India examination and opposed the re-conduct of the exam, arguing that such a move would disrupt the academic calendar and is unnecessary due to the lack of widespread evidence of malpractice. The 2024 NEET-UG, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to MBBS, BDS, and other related undergraduate courses across India, has been beset with a series of allegations ranging from question paper leaks, inflated marking, and arbitrary allowance of grace marks -- issues that have become a nationwide flashpoint for political parties, leading to thousands of students protesting for weeks. This year's examination was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad, with 2.3 million candidates appearing for it. The results, declared on June 4, raised further suspicions when 67 candidates achieved perfect scores of 720, with several of them belonging to the same examination centre. The Union government has already replaced the head of NTA after the controversy erupted.

NEET-UG Paper Leak Case: CBI files first chargesheet against 13 accused | Today News

The CBI has filed its first charge sheet in the alleged NEET UG examination paper leak case naming 13 people as accused. The Central Bureau of Investigation filed its first chargesheet in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case on Thursday. The document named 13 individuals with the probe agency indicating that it was likely to file supplementary chargesheets as the investigation continued. Around 40 people have been arrested in connection with the case so far -- including 15 that were arrested by Bihar Police. The chargesheet was filed under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and claims that the accused were involved in the paper leak and other irregularities. "CBI has utilized advanced forensic techniques, artificial intelligence technology, CCTV footage, tower location analysis and more to gather evidence against the accused. CBI is continuing further investigation against other accused or suspects and on other aspects of the case. Several other accused are already in police or judicial custody," read an excerpt from the chargesheet. The CBI had lodged six FIRs after taking over the paper leak case in late June. The FIR from Bihar pertains to paper leak while the remaining ones from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are regarding impersonation of candidates and cheating. Meanwhile 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. The exam was held across India on May 5 and spurred an outcry following allegations of paper leaks, irregularities, and time losses. More than 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the test. A re-examination was conducted on June 23 for 1,563 candidates who faced a time loss during the original test. More recently the Supreme Court had declined calls for a mass re-test of the controversy-ridden exam. The apex court noted that there was no evidence to conclude that the entire result of NEET-UG 2024 was vitiated.