On Thursday, the CBI arrested two individuals in Patna accused of arranging accommodation for NEET-UG examinees on May 4th.
NEW DELHI: Advancing its investigation into the NEET-UG paper leak case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday traced the source of the leak and apprehended the principal and vice principal of Oasis School in Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand, according to officials.
The arrested individuals were identified as Ehsanul Haque, the principal, and Imtiaz Alam, the vice principal of Oasis School. Haque had been appointed as the city coordinator for Hazaribagh during the NEET-UG exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on May 5, officials stated.
Imtiaz Alam served as the NTA's observer and centre coordinator at Oasis School. The CBI is also interrogating five additional individuals from the district in connection with the paper leak, officials added.
The federal investigative agency arrested Haque and Alam after extensive questioning. Both individuals had come under scrutiny during the Bihar Police's Economic Offences Unit (EOU) investigation into the case earlier.
The officials stated that during their investigation, the EOU team discovered that the serial code on the partially burnt remains of a leaked question paper in Bihar matched the examination center at Oasis School in Hazaribagh. They added that they retrieved two aluminium boxes containing the question papers.
According to officials, the EOU, in its findings shared with the CBI, alleged that the leaked NEET-UG question paper was obtained from Oasis School in Hazaribagh by the notorious Sanjeev Kumar alias Lutan Mukhiya gang from Bihar.
In their report, officials mentioned that the EOU had compared a partially burnt question paper found at a safe house in Patna with the reference question paper provided by the NTA, confirming the source of the leak. However, they were unable to definitively identify the perpetrators behind the alleged paper leak.
They further disclosed that their investigation revealed that the prescribed procedures for opening the question paper boxes were not properly followed by authorities in Hazaribagh.
Reports indicated that Haque informed investigators that the box containing the question papers could not be opened due to a malfunction in its digital lock, which was supposed to automatically unlock. Allegedly, upon contacting the NTA, he was instructed to use a cutter to open the box.
The question paper boxes are equipped with two locks - a manual one requiring a key and a digital lock that emits a beep 45 minutes before the examination, signaling its readiness to open.
Following a directive from the Union Ministry of Education, the CBI registered six FIRs in connection with the leak case, including one initiated by the agency and five taken over from various states. The agency has assumed jurisdiction over one case each from Bihar and Gujarat, and three cases from Rajasthan.
On Thursday, the CBI initiated its first arrests in the paper leak case by apprehending two individuals in Patna. Simultaneously, three candidates in Gujarat, accused of seeking assistance to clear the examination, provided their statements to the investigative agency, according to officials.
