NEET-UG paper leak case: Three students from AIIMS Patna questioned

NEW DELHI: The CBI has questioned three students from AIIMS Patna in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case, officials said Thursday. Further details on the students being quizzed were not immediately known. The agency on Tuesday had arrested Pankaj Kumar alias Aditya, a 2017-batch civil engineer from the National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur, who allegedly stole the NEET-UG paper from the NTA trunk in Hazaribagh, the officials said. Kumar, a resident of Bokaro, was arrested from Patna, they said.

The CBI had also arrested one Raju Singh who allegedly helped Kumar in stealing the paper, they said, adding that Singh was arrested from Hazaribagh. The CBI, which is probing the alleged irregularities in the medical-entrance exam, has lodged six FIRs. The FIR from Bihar pertains to paper leak while the remaining ones from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are regarding 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 NEET-UG 2024. The NEET-UG is conducted by the NTA 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.