By Neeraj Kumar
Patna, May 11: The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police has started probe into the alleged paper leak of NEET-UG 2024, which was conducted on May 5.
An eight-member EOU team has been constituted for this purpose. The team is headed by an SP-rank officer. Several accused have already been arrested. According to sources, many senior officials are also said to be involved in this scam, and action against them has been intensified.
Police have arrested 13 accused in the case so far from Patna and many Bihar districts. They include four examinees, their guardians, and members of the solver gang. Many medical students are also among those arrested. The kingpin of the alleged paper leak racket is Nitish Kumar, who is currently in police custody. Nitish Kumar was earlier sent to jail by the EOU in the teacher recruitment question paper leak case. He was released on bail a few days ago.
MASTERMINDS IDENTIFIED
Investigations so far have revealed that Nitish Kumar and Sikandar Yadavendu, a junior engineer in Danapur Nagar Parishad, are the masterminds behind the paper leak. According to the investigation team, 35 examinees were made to solve the question paper before the examination at a boys’ hostel in Ramkrishna Nagar police station area in Patna. The police also found burnt remains of the question paper from there. Several admit cards and other documents have been recovered from the gang members.
The EOU is preparing to seek remand of all arrested individuals to facilitate thorough investigations, with court applications already underway.
ROLE OF SENIOR OFFICIALS SUSPECTED:
It is being said that there is also a role of senior officials in this paper leak racket. Yadavendu and one of the main kingpins Sanjeev Singh were in touch with many officials. They used to talk through internet calling. The officials were also already aware of the question paper leak case. Now the EOU investigation team is probing all these points.
ACCUSED ARRESTED SO FAR:
The 13 accused arrested by Shastri Nagar police of Patna include Ayush Raj of Danapur, Bittu of Rohtas, Akhilesh Kumar of Danapur, Sikandar Yadavendu of Samastipur, Ashutosh Kumar of Nepalinagar, Patna, Roshan Kumar of Ekangarsarai, Patna, Nitish Kumar of Gaya, Anurag Yadav of Samastipur, Abhishek Kumar of Ranchi, Shivnandan Kumar of Barachatti in Gaya, Avdesh Kumar of Ranchi, Amit Anand of Patna and Rani Kumari of Samastipur. Apart from this, the police of other districts have also arrested the accused.
The author is a journalist based in Patna
