• By Mayukh Debnath
  • Thu, 25 Jul 2024 09:48 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND

NEET Paper Leak: One of the 'masterminds' in the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak case acted in collusion with the principal and the vice principal of Oasis School in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh to gain access to the question paper hours before the commencement of the medical entrance examination on May 5, the CBI claimed on Thursday, adding that the solved questions were sent to the candidates who had hired his service.

Pankaj Kumar alias Aditya, who faces allegations of stealing the NEET-UG paper from the possession of the Nationa Testing Agency (NTA) in Hazaribagh, was arrested by the probe agency earlier this month. He is a 2017-batch civil engineer from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Jamshedpur.

ALSO READ: 'Taxes Like England, Services Like Somalia': Raghav Chadha Slams Modi 3.0 Over Budget 2024

According to the CBI, Kumar allegedly received assistance from Oasis School Principal Ehsanul Haque, also the NTA City Coordinator for Hazaribagh, and Vice Principal Imtiaz Alam, who was the Centre Superintendent, in perpetrating the crime. Haque and Alam have also been arrested.

ALSO READ: Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu Compares Jagan Mohan Reddy To Drug Lord Pablo Escobar In Assembly

"The trunks containing the NEET UG 2024 question papers were brought to the school and kept in the control room in the morning of 05-05-2024. Minutes after the trunks arrived, the above said Principal and Vice Principal unauthorisedly and illegally allowed access to the room where the trunks were kept, to the mastermind named above. The sophisticated tools used to open the trunk and access the question papers from the trunk have been seized," the CBI said in a statement.

"The solved paper was shared with certain selected students who paid money to the accused," a CBI spokesperson was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. The question paper was solved by a group of solvers in Hazaribagh itself on the morning of the examination, the central agency said. The set of solvers comprised MBBS students from AIIMS Patna, RIMS Ranchi, and another medical college in Bharatpur. Seven of the alleged solvers have been arrested so far, the CBI said. "These solvers were specially brought to Hazaribagh as part of the conspiracy," it added.

(With inputs from agencies)