Villagers in Bihar’s Nawada district allegedly attacked a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team looking into the Union Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC NET) paper leak case. The incident occurred on Saturday, June 23. Four people were also taken into custody after the federal agency filed a complaint.
The incident took place while a four-person CBI team from New Delhi was investigating the UGC NET paper leak case in Kasiyadih hamlet, which is under the Rajaouli police station. The team was led by an inspector-rank officer.
Locals heckled the CBI investigators and vandalised their cars as soon as they arrived in the area, believing them to be “fake” police personnel, a police officer claimed.
Shedding light on the matter, Rajesh Kumar, station house officer (SHO), Rajouli police station said, “A CBI team reached Nawada on Saturday evening to investigate the UGC-NET paper leak case. Without informing the local police, they reached the village where they were attacked by villagers who mistook them for fake officers,”
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He added, “As we came to know about the incident, police reached the spot and pacified people.” Local police have arrested four people and registered a first information report (FIR) on charges of causing disruption in government work and assault, among others.
In an official statement, Nawada Superintendent of police (SP) Ambrish Rahul said on Sunday, June 24, “The CBI team came without any information. We got a message around 4.30 pm (on Saturday) that a CBI team has been surrounded by local villagers and there has been exchange of blows. A local police team reached there in 8-10 minutes and took control of situation.”
Another police officer shared that a CBI team had travelled to Nawada to trace down a few suspects based on the location of cell phone numbers purportedly connected to the UGC-NET paper leak case.
“The investigation on the basis of mobile numbers is going on. People involved in the case will be arrested,” said the officer.
In response to the Union education ministry’s request, the CBI filed a formal complaint (FIR) on Thursday in the UGC-NET paper leak case against an unnamed individual.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the UGC-NET nationwide on June 18, which assesses eligibility for the award of junior research fellowships and admission to PhD programmes in Indian institutions and colleges. The famous national exam was taken by almost 900,000 pupils twice a year.
However, the education ministry called off the exam the very next day, citing concerns from cybercrime authorities and claiming that the exam’s integrity may have been compromised.
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