The Central Bureau of Investigation has detained four undergraduate students of AIIMS Patna in connection with the paper leak and irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024. The doctors are from the 2021 batch, and they have been taken into custody for questioning.
Rooms of the doctors locked, laptops and mobiles seized
The federal agency has locked the doctors’ rooms, seizing their laptops and mobile phones.
Of the four students, three are in third-year while another is in second year. Also, three are from Bihar and one is from Jharkhand’s Dhanbad.
The doctors’ incarceration came a day after the CBI detained two additional people for allegedly stealing question papers for the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) medical entrance exam. The defendants, Pankaj Kumar and Raju Singh, were apprehended in Patna, Bihar, and Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, respectively.
Also read: CBI arrests alleged mastermind behind the NEET-UG paper leak from Bihar
Pankaj Kumar is a member of the paper leak gang, and he allegedly stole the NEET-UG question papers with Raju’s assistance. On Wednesday, a special court in Patna sentenced Pankaj Kumar to 14 days in CBI detention and Raju to 10 days, according to officials.
CBI has arrested nine people so far in connection with paper leak case
The CBI arrested nine people in connection with the NEET paper leak case. It also has 13 other defendants in jail, including Rocky, aka Rakesh Ranjan, the case’s kingpin from Bihar.
Today, the Supreme Court will hear a number of petitions related to the contentious medical entrance test. The top court deferred the hearing of the arguments, including those seeking cancellation of the examination, re-testing, and an investigation into alleged malpractices in the conduct of NEET-UG 2024, to today. This was done because several parties had not yet received responses from the Centre and the NTA.
On July 8, the Supreme Court noted that the sanctity of the NEET-UG 2024 was “breached”. The bench had asked details from the NTA and the CBI, including the timing and manner of the suspected paper leak, and had stated that a re-test may be ordered if the entire process was disrupted. The court also inquired about the number of wrongdoers to determine the scope of the irregularities asserted by the petitioners.
