Bihar police on the night of June 22 had apprehended as many as six individuals in connection with alleged irregularities linked to National Eligibility cum Entrance Test- Under Graduate (NEET-UG) held across the country on May 5.
The detained suspects have been identified as Chintu alias Baldev Kumar, Paramjit Singh alias Bittu, Amit Kumar, Rajiv alias Karu, Panku, and Kaju alias Prashant Kumar, all residents of Nalanda district of Bihar.
According to the information received, the suspects were reported to be residing in a house under Devipur police station limits of Deoghar district and were apprehended and then taken to Bihar.
With the latest arrest, the number of total individuals arrested in connection with the alleged regularities has mounted to 19. Notably, Bihar police had earlier detained as many as 13 individuals including four NEET-UG candidates in connection with the case in May this year.
According to the reports, the arrested individuals have allegedly confessed about receiving question papers a day prior to the prestigious entrance test in which around 24 lakhs candidates across the country had made appearances.
The arrested individuals include of Sikandar Yaduvendu, a junior engineer in Danapur Municipal Council who allegedly supplied question papers before the examinations.
It was further revealed that the gang supplied question papers to approximately 30 NEET-UG candidates for memorising. It has been unravelled that for each question paper an amount ranging between rupees 30 to 50 lakhs were charged from the candidates. Following the revelation, the case was handed over to the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) on May 11.
The much awaited results of the test were announced on June 4, triggering protest from aspirants who marked their opposition over alleged irregularities and grace marks which was given to over 1500 aspirants. Later on the government however scrapped the grace marks given to a total of 1563 candidates and offered them a chance to retake the examinations.
The incident also prompted action from the Ministry of Education, who on Saturday constituted a High Level Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. K Radhakrishann, former chairman of ISRO to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of the examination administered by the National Test Agency (NTA).
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