The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two more persons including a key accused in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) paper leak case who allegedly stole the paper from a National Testing Agency's trunk in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, officials said on Tuesday.
With the two arrests, the total number of persons arrested in connection with cases pertaining to leakage, impersonation and other irregularities in the medical entrance exam has now reached 14, they said.
The agency has arrested Pankaj Kumar alias Aditya, a 2017-batch civil engineer from the National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur, who allegedly stole the NEET-UG paper from the NTA trunk in Hazaribagh, the officials said.
Kumar, a resident of Bokaro, was arrested from Patna, they said.
The CBI has also arrested one Raju Singh from Hazaribagh who allegedly helped Kumar in stealing the paper, they said.
Singh was arrested after detailed questioning, the officials said, adding the agency also 'temporarily sealed' one Raj Guest House in Hazaribagh in connection with the case.
The agency has already arrested from Hazaribagh Jamaluddin Ansari, a journalist with a Hindi newspaper, and Oasis School's principal Ehsanul Haque and vice principal Imtiaz Alam. Haque and Alam were reportedly designated as coordinators by the NTA in the district.
The Economic Offence Wing (EOU) of Bihar Police had earlier said in a statement that the leaked NEET-UG question paper was allegedly obtained from Oasis School in Hazaribagh by the notorious Sanjeev Kumar alias Lutan Mukhiya solver gang.
It had said investigators matched a partially burnt question paper recovered from the Patna safe house with the reference question paper provided by the NTA, confirming the leak's origin.
However, it could not clearly establish who was behind the alleged leakage of the paper, the officials said.
In interviews with media, Haque maintained that the box carrying the question papers did not open because its digital lock, which was supposed to unlock automatically, had malfunctioned.
Following this, he had contacted the NTA, which asked him to use a cutter to open the box.
The CBI, which is probing the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam, has registered six FIRs.
The FIR from Bihar pertains to leakage of paper while the remaining from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are linked to 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.
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 had appeared for the test.
