NEET Row: CBI team to visit Patna; may take those arrested to Delhi for questioning

PATNA: A CBI team is expected to visit Patna on Monday and may take those arrested in the NEET-UG paper leak case to Delhi for questioning, officials said. The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the Bihar Police has arrested 18 people in connection with the case so far, they said. CBI officers are likely to collect evidence related to the case from the EOU, which had been investigating the matter until the Centre ordered a probe by the federal agency, they added. The CBI had on Sunday filed an FIR in connection with alleged irregularities in medical entrance exam NEET-UG, which was held on May 5, on a reference from the Education Ministry, amid countrywide protests and litigations by students for a probe into the allegations of paper leak.

"The CBI team is expected to visit the EOU office around 11.30 am and collect all evidence, including the pieces of the burnt question paper that was recovered from a house in Patna, mobile phones of those arrested, SIM cards, laptops, post-dated cheques and reference questions papers provided by the National Testing Agency (NTA)," an EOU officer said. "All those arrested are in judicial custody in Patna, and the CBI team may take them to Delhi for detailed interrogation by obtaining transit remand from a court here," he said. The CBI may file multiple FIRs in connection with the matter to probe the destruction of evidence, and also register disproportionate assets (DA) cases against some of those accused who are public servants, he said.

"A DA case may be registered against arrested accused Sikander Prasad Yadvendu, a junior engineer in Danapur Town Council, as he reportedly acquired huge assets that are disproportionate to his known source of income," the officer said. Yadvendu, originally from Samastipur, has been identified as the prime suspect in the case, he said. "He has a history of involvement in criminal activities. Before becoming a junior engineer in 2012, he worked as a contractor in Ranchi. He was previously implicated in an LED scam worth Rs 3 crore. He has served a jail sentence for his role in that case," the officer said.