NEET row: CBI makes first arrests in paper leak case from Patna; two arrested accused gave answer keys to students

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has made its first arrest in the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak case on Thursday. A team of CBI officials arrested two accused -Manish Kumar and Ashutosh Kumar - from Patna today. They were also presented before a court in the paper leak case.

Manish Kumar and Ashutosh Kumar allegedly provided safe premises to the aspirants before the examination where they were given leaked papers and answer keys, officials linked to the case told PTI. Till now, the CBI has filed at least six FIRs regarding the NEET paper leak case.

The first CBI FIR in the paper leak case was registered on Sunday, a day after the Ministry of Education handed over the case to the agency. The case was handed over to the CBI after students across the nation demanded a probe in the alleged irregularities in the NEET examination this year.

This year's examination was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. Over 23 lakh candidates appeared for the test. After the results were announced on June 4, many students raised concerns regarding inflated marking and paper leaks in certain areas.

This year, the NEET-UG examination saw 67 toppers from across the nation, all of whom scored a perfect 720/720 score. For reference, NEET only had two toppers in 2023, and one topper in 2022.

On Wednesday, a CBI team expanded its investigation to Jharkhand, visiting a school in the Hazaribagh area and interrogating its staff, including the principal.

Two persons were released by CBI after questioning in the NEET paper leak case. These individuals are identified as the principal and staff of the Hazaribagh-based Oasis school who were interrogated at the CCL guest house at Charhi, a town in the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.

After the controversy regarding the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG exam, the Centre postponed the NEET-PG 2024 examination hours before it was supposed to be held.

The UGC-NET 2024 exam, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), was also cancelled shortly after the controversy, after the paper for the test was leaked on the dark net.