A day after the arrest of the principal and vice-principal of a Jharkhand school in connection with an alleged paper leak of this year’s National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on June 29 arrested a Hazaribagh-based journalist for allegedly helping the two accused. Earlier, the CBI had arrested five members of the “solver gang” based in Nalanda, Bihar. Here’s what is known so far about the accused:
Sanjeev Mukhiya
Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of Nalanda, leads the “solver gang” operating across Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and several other states, as per police reports. He filed an anticipatory bail petition in a Patna court on June 4. With Sanjeev absconding, a hearing in the case is yet to start. The CBI suspects that he fled to Nepal. Sanjeev is also accused of leaking other papers. He is more commonly referred to as ‘Sanjeev Mukhiya’, a moniker he got due to his wife Mamata Devi. The mukhiya of Bhuthakhar panchayat in Nalanda between 2016 and 2021, Mamata has been associated with the Janata Dal (United) for nearly a decade.
Baldev Kumar
According to the Economic Offences Unit (EOU), Baldev Kumar alias Chintu, a Bihar Sharif resident, is suspected of being Sanjeev’s key aide. Investigators suspect that Baldev had received a PDF of the solved paper on a mobile phone being used by him late on May 4, the evening of the NEET-UG exam. Investigators suspect the PDF was sent to a number for which his accomplices used forged documents to obtain a SIM card.
Ehsanul Haque and Imtiaz Alam
On June 28, the CBI apprehended Ehsanul Haque, the principal of Oasis School in Jharkhand, along with his vice-principal Imtiaz Alam, who also serves as the Hazaribagh district coordinator for NEET-UG appointed by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Investigators believe the leak originated from their school.
Mohd Jamaludin
On June 29, Hazaribagh-based journalist Mohd Jamaludin was arrested by the CBI for purportedly aiding the principal and vice-principal of Oasis School in Jharkhand. Jamaludin, employed with a prominent Hindi newspaper, was apprehended following the CBI’s acquisition of significant technical evidence against him.
Nitish Kumar and Amit Anand
Baldev is accused of sending the PDF to two intermediaries, Nitish Kumar and Amit Anand, currently residing in Patna. Nitish and Amit reportedly made photocopies of the PDF and distributed it to candidates residing at Learn Boys and Play School, a play school and hostel rented by the gang in Patna’s Khemnichak area. Nitish and Amit were apprehended in Deoghar on June 22.
Purshottam Sharma
On May 21, Purshottam Sharma, the principal of Jay Jalaram School in Godhra, Gujarat, was arrested. The school served as a NEET exam centre, with Purshottam acting as the superintendent for the May 5 exam. He stands accused of conspiring with others, including a school teacher, to assist certain aspirants in cheating. Specifically, Purshottam and his accomplice’s teacher allegedly filled in unanswered questions on the OMR sheets before sealing them.
Tushar Bhatt
Arrested on May 12, geography teacher Tushar Bhatt is accused of conniving with Purshottam to tamper with OMR sheets submitted by the students after the exam. Tushar is accused of also liaising with two others to prepare the final list of students with whom a “deal had been finalised”. Tushar, who was cornered by the inspection squad of the DEO on the day of the examination, May 5, was carrying two mobile phones containing WhatsApp chats containing the “final list” of 16 of 30 candidates who had approached to cheat in the exam.
Panku Kumar, Paramjit Singh and Rajiv Kumar
Panku Kumar, Paramjit Singh alias Bittu, and Rajiv Kumar alias Karu, all residents of Nalanda district, have been accused of supplying fake mobile SIM cards to aid the gang members in facilitating the paper leak. On June 22, the EOU filed a separate cyber crime case against the trio. Earlier this year, they were implicated as accused in another paper leak case.
Roshan Kumar, Awadhesh Kumar, Sikander Yadavendu and 8 others
On May 5, the Patna Police detained 11 individuals, including two additional intermediaries — Roshan Kumar and Awadhesh Kumar, both residents of Patna and closely linked to intermediary Amit. Those apprehended included four examinees and their parents, along with Sikander Yadavendu, a resident of Patna accused of introducing the four examinees to intermediaries Nitish and Amit. The four middlemen made arrangements for the four accused examinees to stay at the Khemnichak school. The four accused examinees were given the solved PDF late on May 4.
Manish Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar
The CBI nabbed Patna residents Manish Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar on June 27 — the agency’s first arrests in the case in Bihar — for renting the play school-cum-hostel for the examinees.
Vibhor Anand Umeshwar Prasad Singh
Vibhor Anand Umeshwar Prasad Singh, an educational consultant, was detained on May 20. He allegedly collaborated closely with Parshuram and is accused of contacting the parents of NEET-UG aspirants in Jharkhand and Odisha to arrange the transaction. Vibhor was a part of the network of education agents who directed students to “relevant” agents for immigration work.
Mukesh Kumar
Mukesh Kumar, hailing from Muraura village in Bihar Sharif, stands accused of ferrying four of the suspects in his car between different locations. He resided in Agam Kuan, Patna, alongside several other accused individuals. Authorities apprehended him in Deoghar on June 22.
Arif Vohra
Arif Vohra, a former martial arts teacher at the school and Tushar’s acquaintance, was also arrested on May 12. A local from Godhra, Arif was in touch with Gujarat-based aspirants — some of whom are being questioned by the CBI — who wanted to clear the NEET-UG exam with a good rank. Arif is accused of giving Tushar Rs 7 lakh. The amount was seized during the raid on May 5.
Parshuram Roy
The owner of Vadodara-based education immigration company, Roy Overseas, Parshuram Roy is said to be an acquaintance of Tushar. He was in touch with Tushar to allegedly finalise the list of students from outside the state who had chosen the school as their NEET centre. Parshuram is accused of instructing students from Jharkhand, Odisha, Karnataka and other states to choose Godhra as their centre since Tushar “was in power” to tamper with OMR answer sheets there before they were sealed.
Parshuram was among the 19 persons arrested in connection with the leak of the 2023 Gujarat Panchayat Service Selection Board junior clerk exam paper.
The investigation into the NEET paper leak has uncovered a complex web of individuals spanning multiple states and professions, from educators and journalists to alleged masterminds and accomplices. This scandal serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing challenges in safeguarding national-level exams against illicit practices, demanding robust reforms and vigilance moving forward.
