NEET-UG Scam: CBI Arrests Principal And Vice-Principal Of Jharkhand School In Connection With Exam Leak

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) reportedly made major discoveries in the ongoing investigation into the alleged leak of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG)question papers when they arrested the principal and vice-principal of Oasis School in Jharkhand on Friday. The arrested individuals are Dr. Ehsanul Haque, the principal, and Imtiaz Alam, the vice-principal and Hazaribagh district coordinator for NEET-UG, as designated by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

Sources from the CBI confirmed that both Haque and Alam would be presented before the appropriate court in Patna within 24 hours. While the agency indicated that the detailed reasons for their arrest will be communicated directly to the court, it is, however, it is still unknown as to what the exact grounds were for the arrest.

This development is followed after a series of investigative activities that had taken place surrounding the Oasis School which is located in Hazaribagh. During a recent visit by The Indian Express, Dr. Haque described an incident that occurred on May 5, the day of the NEET-UG exam. He recounted that a digital lock on two boxes containing the exam question papers failed to open at the scheduled time of 1:15 PM. In a state of panic, school officials contacted the NTA and were instructed to manually cut open the lock to access the papers.

Further complicating the case, the superintendent of the exam center disclosed that on June 21, officials from Bihar’s Economic Offences Unit (EOU) arrived to investigate the situation. The EOU discovered that the serial code on the remnants of a leaked question paper found in Bihar matched the serial codes of the papers at Oasis School. The EOU then took the two aluminum boxes containing the question papers as part of their investigation.

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Adding to the arrests, the CBI detained two individuals from Patna on Thursday who were allegedly involved in arranging accommodations for NEET-UG examinees on May 4, a day before the exam. These individuals purportedly memorized the solved exam paper during this time. Four examinees are among the thirteen accused in the case, with five additional arrests made subsequently.

The investigation was transferred to the CBI on June 22, following an order from the Ministry of Education to conduct a comprehensive probe into the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 examination.