NEET-UG leak case: CBI arrests one of the kingpins

Rockey alias Rakesh Ranjan, who hails from Nalanda, and is said to be a relative of mastermind Sanjeev Mukhia, was nabbed by the agency from outskirts of Patna, they said

PTI, New Delhi, Jul 11 2024 : The CBI on Thursday arrested one of the alleged kingpins in the NEET-UG paper leak case who was on the run ever since the crackdown on irregularities in the entrance exam began, officials said.

Rockey alias Rakesh Ranjan, who hails from Nalanda, and is said to be a relative of mastermind Sanjeev Mukhia, was nabbed by the agency from outskirts of Patna, they said.

The CBI had been trailing him since the case came to the agency. His run came to an end Thursday morning when he was arrested by the agency, they said.

The agency produced him before a special court in Patna which has remanded him to 10 days of CBI custody, they said.

The CBI conducted searches at three locations in Patna and nearby areas and one in Kolkata after his arrest, they said.

Earlier this week, the CBI had conducted searches at 15 locations in Bihar and Jharkhand gathering incriminating evidence in the case, they said.

The agency had earlier arrested the principal and vice principal of Jharkhand's Hazaribagh-based Oasis school in the case and two persons who allegedly lent premises to NEET candidates where burnt question papers were recovered by the Bihar Police.

The CBI, which is probing the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam, has registered six FIRs in the matter so far.

The FIR from Bihar pertains to paper leaks, while the remaining, from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, are linked to the impersonation of candidates and cheating.

The agency's own FIR on a reference from the Union Education Ministry pertains to a "comprehensive investigation" into the alleged irregularities in the examination.

NEET-UG is conducted by the National Testing Agency 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. More than 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the test.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned till July 18 the hearing of a clutch of petitions seeking cancellation, re-test and probe into alleged malpractices in the conduct of NEET-UG 2024 as the responses of the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) were yet to be received by some parties. 

Amid the festering row over the all-India examination, the top court noted that separate affidavits filed on Wednesday by the Centre and the NTA, which conducts the test, have not been received by counsel for some of the petitioners. 

"The further hearing shall be on Thursday (July 18)," a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, however, said they have served their affidavit to the counsel for the parties. 

During the brief hearing, counsel for the petitioners sought listing of the pleas on July15 but Mehta said he would be unavailable that day. 

The bench said it has received a status report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the progress made in the probe into alleged irregularities in the conduct of NEET-UG2024. In an additional affidavit filed in the apex court on Wednesday, the Centre said data analytics of the results of NEET-UG2024 was conducted by IIT Madras which found there was neither any indication of "mass malpractice" nor a localised set of candidates benefiting from it and scoring abnormally high marks. 

The government's assertion assumes significance in view of the observations made by the top court on July 8 that it may order a re-test if there were large-scale malpractices in holding the exam on May 5. 

The Centre's fresh affidavit said experts from IIT Madras have found that the marks distribution follows the bell-shaped curve that is witnessed in any large-scale examination indicating no abnormality. 

A bell curve describes the shape of data conforming to a normal distribution. The affidavit said for 2024-25,the counselling process for undergraduate seats will be conducted in four rounds starting from the third week of July.