NEET Paper Leak Scandal: In the investigation of NEET UG paper leak, so far the connection of five states like Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh has come to the fore. This shows that the copying mafia has taken an organized form across the country. The Economic Offenses Wing of Bihar is currently taking rapid action and is working to give a direction to the investigation.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has handed over the investigation to the CBI. The CBI will investigate the deep conspiracy in this case. The CBI has currently registered a case against unknown people under sections of fraud, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.
The CBI will take the accused caught by the state police in its custody and will also take over the FIRs of the states. But the question is how did the copying mafia flourish and will it be able to curb them?
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NEET Paper Leak Scandal: This is how they were caught in Bihar-Jharkhand
Patna Police had received information about irregularities in NEET exam on 5 May. Police had received information about people in a Duster car with Jharkhand number, these people were roaming around the examination center. Police caught the Duster car on Bailey Road and three people Sikandar Yadavendu, Akhilesh Kumar and Bittu Kumar were caught from the car. Admit cards of four NEET candidates were also found from the car.
Sikandar had made a deal with these four. Sikandar had named Sanjeev Singh Rocky, Nitish and Amit Anand. These people were members of this gang. Nitish was also arrested earlier in the paper leak. However, Nitish got bail in March in 4 days. Sikandar had given the candidates to Amit, while Amit had given the candidates to Nitish. In this case, Nitish had provided NEET papers to the four NEET candidates.
According to sources, NEET-UG paper was leaked from Hazaribagh Oasis School. Bihar EOU team had also found evidence of tampering from the booklet box. The EOU team has submitted a report related to NEET paper leak to the Union Education Ministry. In this case, several associates of paper leak mastermind Sanjeev Mukhiya gang have been arrested.
NEET Paper Leak Scandal: How vicious is Sanjeev Mukhiya gang?
According to sources, Sanjeev Mukhiya, who is involved in the NEET paper leak case, is not the only person from his family who has a criminal history. According to the information received, Sanjeev’s son is also said to be the mastermind behind the question paper leak case of the third phase of the teacher recruitment examination conducted by BPSC.
Sanjeev’s son has also been arrested in this case. According to information received from police sources, there is a possibility of Sanjeev Mukhiya fleeing to Nepal. It is being said that he has been hiding somewhere in Nepal for the last few days.
Two teachers arrested from Maharashtra
After Bihar-Jharkhand, the Maharashtra connection of this case has also come to light. Nanded ATS has detained two teachers from Latur in Maharashtra. ATS suspects that both the teachers are involved in the NEET paper leak case. On the basis of suspicion, both the teachers were detained on Saturday night and are being questioned.
Both the detained teachers also run private coaching classes in Latur. One of the accused teachers is said to be working in Latur and the other in Solapur. The names of the teachers are Sanjay Tukaram Jadhav and Jalil Umarkhan Pathan. Both are teachers in Zilla Parishad schools.
NEET Paper Leak Scandal: Gujarat connection of paper leak
On June 14, five people, including a principal and teacher of a school in Godhra town of Gujarat’s Panchmahal district, were arrested for allegedly trying to help 27 candidates clear the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) by taking a bribe of Rs 10 lakh each from them.
According to the FIR lodged on May 9, the case was unearthed in a school in Godhra which was made an examination centre for NEET-UG. According to the FIR, the district magistrate had received a tip-off that some people were doing wrong things for admission to medical college, following which the candidates appearing for the examination held for admission to medical college on May 5 were detained.
The Superintendent of Police said that those arrested include Tushar Bhatt, school principal Purushottam Sharma, Vadodara education consultant Parshuram Roy, his associate Vibhor Anand and middleman Arif Vohra. According to an FIR lodged at the Godhra taluka police station on the complaint of the district education officer, Rs 7 lakh in cash was recovered from Bhatt.
Tushar Bhatt was working as a teacher at Jai Jalaram School and was appointed deputy centre superintendent for NEET in the city. Parshuram Roy had convinced at least 27 of his students that he could help them pass the exam for Rs 10 lakh. During the raid, cheques worth Rs 2.30 crore were recovered from his office.
Ravi Atri gang in Uttar Pradesh
Ravi Atri has been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force in the NEET paper leak case. A resident of Neemka village in Greater Noida, Atri is known for his alleged involvement in paper leaks of various examinations in different states. His modus operandi allegedly involves uploading solved question papers on social media platforms through a network called ‘Solver Gang’.
Atri was also arrested by the Delhi Police Crime Branch for his alleged role in leaking the medical entrance exam paper in 2012. Bihar Police had expanded its investigation outside the state and arrested several people connected with the paper leak case, including a student and associates.
During interrogation, their links with Atri came to light, after which the UP STF finally caught Atri. In 2007, Atri’s family sent him to Kota to prepare for the medical entrance exam. In 2012, he passed the exam and took admission in PGI Rohtak.
However, Atri did not appear for the exam in the fourth year. Officials said that by then he had come in contact with the ‘exam mafia’ and used to appear in the exam in place of other candidates. He also started playing an important role in circulating the leaked papers among the students.
Relationship between Alexander and Atri
According to sources, members of Atri gang had provided question papers to Sikandar and Sanjeev in Bihar. Ravi Atri of Atri gang has been named earlier in connection with paper leaks of many exams. He is currently serving his sentence in Meerut jail in a similar case. He is accused of leaking the paper of constable recruitment exam held in Uttar Pradesh some time back.
Police suspect that Atri gang has leaked the paper this time too and has delivered these question papers to the solver gang just a day before the exam. According to police sources, the accused had delivered these question papers to Bihar via Jharkhand.
NEET Paper Leak Scandal: How will the new paper leak law tighten the screws?
The paper leak law was implemented in the country on Friday in the cases of leakage of question papers of all competitive examinations for admission to educational institutions and recruitment in jobs. The paper leak law was passed in February this year. The government issued its notification on Friday. It has been named ‘Public Examination Act 2024’ .
After its implementation, there is a provision of three to five years imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh for using unfair means in public examinations. There is a provision of a fine of up to Rs one crore for committing such a crime in an organized manner.
Before this law, there was no specific law to deal with it in case of any rigging or crime by various agencies involved in the conduct of examinations. This was the reason that many gangs were operating in the country and when caught, they would come out on bail within a few days. Nitish, Sanjeev Mukhiya and Atri are examples of this.
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