CBI nabs two from Patna, its first arrests in NEET-UG case

Tribune News Service

Aksheev Thakur

New Delhi, June 27

In its first arrests in the NEET-UG paper leak case, the CBI on Thursday nabbed two persons from Patna. The accused — Manish Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar — allegedly provided accommodation to medical aspirants where they were given leaked question papers and answer keys late on May 4, a day before the entrance exam was held.

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Both were produced before a special court in Patna which sent them to judicial custody, officials said. The CBI will now seek their remand from the court to question them, they said.

The aspirants stayed at Learn Boys Hostel and Play School in Patna from where the Economic Offence Unit (EOU) of the Bihar Police had recovered burnt question papers. The CBI has found that Ashutosh had taken the premises on rent, the officials said. About Prakash, they said, he allegedly struck deals with NEET aspirants who were ready to pay money for getting the question papers in advance.

He then brought these candidates to the hostel where they were provided with the paper and the answer key, they said. Prakash’s wife was informed about his arrest over the phone.

Prime accused Sanjiv Mukhiya is suspected to have fled to Nepal. The CBI had raided his house in Nalanda village. Another team of the CBI on Thursday questioned students who took the exam at a centre in Godhra. Parshuram Roy, Vibhor Anand, Arif Vora and Tushar Bhatt are accused in the case in Godhra. The CBI submitted its FIR in a sealed envelope to the District Sessions Court for seeking accused’s custody. The total arrests in the matter now stand at 31.

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