CBI files third chargesheet against 21 accused in NEET paper leak case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a third chargesheet in the NEET paper theft case against 21 accused persons before the Special Court for CBI cases in Patna.

The agency said the chargesheet consists of more than 5,500 pages. Earlier, the investigation by the CBI had revealed that the NEET UG 2024 question paper was stolen from the control room of OASIS School, Hazaribagh, on the morning of May 5 this year after the trunks reached the school from the bank vault.

The CBI has cited 298 witnesses, 290 documents and 45 material objects.

So far, 49 accused have been arrested in this case.

The chargesheet named Raj Kumar Singh, Raju Singh, Surendra Kumar Sharma, Rakesh Ranjan, Shashikant Paswan, Abhinas Kumar, Karan Jain, Kumar Shanu, Rahul Anand, Chandan Singh, Surbhi Kumari, Deependra Sharma, Kumar Manglam Vishnoi, Raunak Raj, Sandeep Kumar, Amit Kumar, Sanjay Kumar, Ranjit Kumar Beura, Amit Prasad Maharana, Dhiren Kumar Panda, Susanta Mohanty and Pankaj Kumar.

“The accused, Pankaj Kumar, was clandestinely allowed entry into the control room by Ahsanul Haque, the principal, and Imtiyaz Alam, the vice principal of the school, as part of the conspiracy. Pankaj Kumar tampered with the hinges of the trunk containing the question papers, removed one question paper, photographed all its pages, replaced back the paper and resealed the trunk, and exited the control room,” the CBI said.

The agency said that Pankaj used a sophisticated tool kit to open and seal the trunk. This tool kit was seized by the CBI from the residence of Pankaj.

“After leaving the school premises, he handed over the photos of the question paper to his accomplice, Surendra Kumar Sharma, who was at the Raj Guest House, Hazaribagh. At the guest house, the stolen question papers were printed by the accused and given to a group of solvers, viz Karan Jain, Kumar Shanu, Rahul Anand, Chandan Singh, Surbhi Kumari, Deependra Sharma, Raunak Raj, Sandeep Kumar and Amit Kumar. All these solvers are MBBS students who achieved seats on merit in the previous years. They have all been traced and arrested. These solvers together solved the NEET Q-Paper. Initially botany-zoology, then chemistry and finally physics questions were solved,” the CBI said in a statement.

The solved question papers were then distributed to the candidates present at the guest house. The papers were then sent digitally to the members of the gang in other locations.

“These gang members then printed copies of the solved NEET UG 2024 paper and distributed them to candidates who were present at those locations. Only those candidates who paid money in advance were allowed to enter these locations. The candidates were subsequently allowed to leave for their examination centres but were prohibited from carrying the printed copies with them. At each location, the accused persons destroyed the printed copies of the solved papers after collecting them back from the candidates,” the statement from the agency said.

The CBI has also identified 144 candidates who received the solved papers and legal action is being initiated against them.