NEET-UG 2024 Paper Leak: CBI Charges 5 Accused in Ongoing Investigation, Total Accused Reach 45

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed its fifth chargesheet on Friday against five individuals in connection with the NEET-UG 2024 question paper theft case. The chargesheet was presented before the Court of Special Judge for CBI in Patna. The accused are Amit Kumar Singh from Dhanbad, Sudip Kumar and Yuvraj Kumar from Bokaro, Abhimanyu Patel from Nalanda, and Amit Kumar from Patna. The charges filed against them include criminal conspiracy, abetment, criminal breach of trust, cheating, theft, causing disappearance of evidence, and dishonestly receiving stolen property, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. Additionally, charges were brought under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018).

With the filing of this chargesheet, the total number of accused in this case rises to 45, all of whom are currently in judicial custody. Earlier, the CBI had filed four chargesheets on August 1, September 19, October 5, and November 7, against 40 other accused.

The CBI took over the investigation from the Shastri Nagar Police Station in Patna on June 23 this year. According to the agency, it has identified and shared the names of candidates who benefited from the paper theft or used unfair means, including those who solved the stolen question paper or appeared in the exam as impersonators, with the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Ministry of Education.

The NEET UG 2024 exam, which was conducted on May 5, was initially investigated by the Bihar Police after allegations of a paper leak. The probe was later transferred to the CBI. The investigation revealed that the NEET question paper was stolen from the control room of OASIS School in Hazaribagh on May 5, after trunks containing the question papers arrived from a bank vault.

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According to the CBI, one of the accused, Pankaj Kumar, was allowed entry into the control room by the school's Principal Ahsanul Haque and Vice Principal Imtiyaz Alam as part of a conspiracy. Pankaj Kumar tampered with the trunk containing the question papers, removed one paper, photographed it, and then resealed the trunk before exiting the control room. He handed the photographs to his accomplice, Surendra Kumar Sharma, at the Raj Guest House in Hazaribagh. The stolen question papers were printed and given to a group of MBBS students who solved the paper. The solved papers were then distributed to other candidates at the Raj Guest House.

The CBI also found that the solved papers were scanned and sent digitally to predetermined locations where members of the accused gang could access them, with only those who paid in advance being allowed entry. After the exam, candidates were prohibited from taking any printed copies of the paper with them. The CBI traced the case back to OASIS School after finding half-burnt pieces of the question paper at Learn Play School in Patna.