NEET-UG Paper Leak Row: Amid nationwide outrage over the alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-Undergraduate) exam, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has reaffirmed its stance in the absence of leaks in the controversy surrounding the medical entrance exam and told the Supreme Court that no question paper was reported missing and no breaches were found in Patna. This came amid allegations of a paper leak in the NEET-UG exam, which initially emerged from Bihar’s capital. The CBI has arrested eight people from the state in connection with the case. 

"No question paper was found missing in any Trunk. Each question paper has a unique serial number and was assigned to a particular candidate. No locks were found broken. The reports from NTA Observers did not report anything adverse. The CCTV coverage in the Command Centre was constantly monitored. No untoward incident or any pointer to paper leakage was observed," the testing agency said, as quoted by NDTV.

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Here’s What NTA Told Supreme Court

- The NTA also told the apex court that it has carried out an analysis of the distribution of marks in NEET-UG 2024 at the national, state, city and centre levels. "This analysis indicates that the distribution of marks is quite normal and there seems to be no extraneous factor, which would influence the distribution of marks," it said in its affidavit. 

- It also reiterated its stance that there were no ‘irregularities’ in the results, saying that IIT Madras conducted data analytics on the results of NEET-UG 2024. The NTA emphasised that the distribution of marks follows a typical bell-shaped curve, consistent with patterns seen in large-scale examinations, indicating “no irregularities”.

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- The NTA also said that the viral videos purportedly showing pictures of NEET-UG question paper on social media app Telegram were ‘fake’. “Discussions within the Telegram channel indicate that members identified the video as fake. The timestamp was manipulated to create a false impression of an early leak. Comments and discussions on social media further corroborate that the images in the video were edited, and the date was intentionally modified to suggest a May 4 leak. The screenshots highlight the fabricated nature of the claims made in the video," the NTA said in its affidavit. 

- The NTA affidavit mentioned that the findings of IIT Madras revealed an overall increase in the marks obtained by the students, specifically in the range of 550 to 720.

- "This increase is seen across the cities and centres. This is attributed to a 25 per cent reduction in syllabus. In addition, candidates obtaining such high marks are spread across multiple cities and multiple centres, indicating very little likelihood of malpractice," it said. 

Why So Many Toppers In Neet-UG 2024, NTA Tells SC 

Amid allegations of ‘irregularities’ and paper leaks, the NTA has also responded to a key question: why there were so many toppers in the NEET-UG 2024 exam? The NTA said the claim that 67 students scored 720 out of 720 was “fallacious and incorrect”.

The NTA in its affidavit before the top court said that as many as six students at the Jhajjar gained a perfect score of 720 marks after they were given grace marks for the loss of time. However, in the retest, they could not score full marks, reducing the number to 61. 

"Out of the 67 students, 6 scored 720 in view of the grace marks awarded and were from the Jhajjar centre where there was a loss of time. Therefore, in view of the retest dated 23.06.2024 in place of grace marks, those 6 candidates have not been able to score 720 in the retest. Thus, the total number of actual candidates whose final scorecard reflects 720 marks is 61 only. Secondly, out of 61 candidates, it was only 17 candidates who were obtaining 720/720 marks based on provisional answer keys and 44 are on account of the revision in one answer key of Physics, "the NTA said, as quoted by the Indian Express.