NEET-UG Paper Leak Case: CBI Nabs ‘Kingpin’ Aman Singh From Jharkhand’s Dhanbad

NEET-UG Paper Leak Case: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is probing the NEET-UG paper leak case, has arrested an alleged ‘kingpin’ of the scam, Aman Singh from Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district.
According to officials, Singh, an alleged co-conspirator in the NEET-UG paper leak case, was arrested by the CBI as the federal agency has developed intelligence about Jharkhand-based module allegedly involved in the paper leak of NEET-UG 2024.
This is the sixth arrest by the central agency in connection with the case, they added. Earlier, the agency had arrested principal and vice principal of Hazaribagh-based Oasis school in the case and two persons who allegedly provided safe premises to NEET candidates where burnt question papers were recovered by Bihar Police.
The CBI has registered six FIRs in the case. The FIR from Bihar pertains to leakage of paper while remaining from Gujarat and Rajasthan relates to impersonation of candidates and cheating.
The agency’s own FIR on a reference from the Union Education Ministry pertains to a “comprehensive investigation” into alleged irregularities in the medical entrance examination.
NEET-UG Paper Leak
The NEET-UG 2024 medical entrance examination became embroiled in a raging controversy after instances of paper leaks and alleged irregularities surfaced, triggering mass protests by students and opposition parties across the country.
The row erupted following the declaration of NEET-UG 2024 results which saw an unprecedented 67 candidates securing a perfect score of 720/720, bringing the competitive test under the scanner and triggering protests across against the NTA after it was discovered that the NEET question paper was leaked in several states ahead of the exams.
NEET-UG is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions.
This year, the exam was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. Nearly 24 lakh candidates had appeared for the test.
A total of 67 students had scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA’s history, with six from a Haryana centre figuring in the list, raising suspicions about irregularities in the examination. It has been alleged that grace marks contributed to 67 students sharing the top rank.
Later, the number of candidates sharing the top rank in the NEET-UG reduced to 61 from 67 as the NTA announced the revised results on July 1.
(With inputs from agencies)