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The CBI is now investigating the NEET paper scam. The CBI has also registered a case. For investigation, the CBI has taken the case diary and FIR from the Bihar Police. The CBI will investigate the process of making the paper, printing it, sending it to different parts of the country i.e. transportation and distribution of the paper in the examination centers.
The Ministry of Education is said to be unhappy with the National Testing Agency (NTA) regarding the entire paper leak case. Actually, not only the NEET UG paper was leaked, but after this the UGC NET paper also had to be canceled on suspicion of leakage, then the CSIR NET paper and NEET PG paper were also canceled first, that is, NTA had to cancel 4 major papers in 3 weeks. In this way, very serious questions have been raised on the functioning of NTA. Meanwhile, the CBI has taken over the investigation of the NEET UG paper leak case, which has reached Maharashtra after Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Haryana.
The first question in this entire case arose in Patna, Bihar, where some students were given the question paper the night before the exam and their answers were prepared. The EOU in Bihar suspects that on May 4 in Patna, students were given the question paper with the same serial number, which they were given to solve in Oasis School of Hazaribagh.
Tight security of neat paper boxes
The box in which the NEET paper is sent has not just one small but six levels of tight security.
1 – First of all a box is completely closed with tape.
2 – There is a sturdy cardboard box inside this taping as a second layer of protection.
3 – On the third level, there is an iron box inside this cardboard box. There are two types of locks fitted in this iron box. One lock is a digital lock which can be opened only at a certain time.
4 – The second lock is made of iron, it is not opened with a key but is cut with a saw.
5 – Then another packet comes out inside it, which is a sealed packet.
6 – After this comes the last packet in which the question papers are kept. This packet is sealed with glue, so it can be opened only by cutting it. But it is cut with scissors at the designated place.
However, Bihar's Economic Offences Unit found that the packet had already been cut from the bottom, where it shouldn't have been, and then pasted. The question paper that was leaked in Patna had the serial number of the girl student who appeared for the paper at Hazaribagh's Oasis School. This shows that the paper leak mafia had already photostated or photographed the question paper from somewhere.
How did the paper reach Oasis School?
This box of papers was sent from Delhi to Ranchi by NTA officials on May 3 by plane. After sending it here, the courier company Blue Dot took it in its possession from Ranchi airport and sent it to Blue Dot's office in Hazaribagh by car. After this, Blue Dot officials sent it to the bank, but it was sent to the bank by e-rickshaw. This box of papers reached the bank on May 3 and was opened on the morning of May 5 under the supervision of bank officials and NEET officials. Ehsan Ul Haq, Principal of Oasis School, says that the box of NEET papers was opened with full protocol under the supervision of all the officials and finally a packet of cut paper was found from the bottom.
The EOU questioned him about this and he himself raised the question as to how the paper copy reached Patna on May 4. The CBI investigation has begun and its officers have spread to all the states where traces of paper leak are being found.
Where and what is the CBI investigating?
The investigation of NEET paper scam has been handed over to CBI and CBI has registered a case. For investigation, CBI has taken its case diary and FIR from Bihar Police. According to CBI sources, the entire investigation is in 4 phases. CBI will investigate the process of making the exam paper, its printing, sending it to different parts of the country i.e. transportation and distribution of the paper in the examination centers.
The CBI is also keeping an eye on those NTA officials who may have a direct role in the paper leak. The CBI is preparing to reach the culprits through the data of 1000 phone numbers. On the other hand, after Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Haryana, now the strings of this case have been linked to Maharashtra.
The heat of the investigation reached Maharashtra
A case has been registered against two people at Shivajinagar police station in Latur city of Maharashtra. These include two teachers from Latur, Sanjay Jadhav and Jalil Pathan, who were questioned by the ATS on Sunday, but were later released. Both these teachers teach in Latur Zilla Parishad School.
These two teachers from Latur have also been found to have connections with Delhi. Both the accused from Latur were in contact with Gangadhar from Delhi through a person named Iranna. Information about admit cards of many examinations and money transactions has also been found from the mobile phones of both the teachers.
CBI team also reached Godhra
As soon as the matter reached the CBI, a team from Delhi reached Godhra early in the morning. A team of four-five members has camped in Godhra. In fact, when information was received about irregularities in the examination held on 5 May 2024 at Godhra Jaijalaram School, the District Collector ordered an inquiry into it. During the investigation, a complaint was lodged at the Godhra Taluka Police Station when the involvement of five other people including the school teacher Tushar Bhatt Principal came to light.
The Gujarat government registered the case on May 8, 2024. Later, the five accused were arrested and sent to jail. The police have so far recovered cheques worth about Rs 2 crore 30 lakh and 8 blank cheques.
Panch Mahal police and net theft investigation officer contacted the CBI team at Godhra Circuit House. CBI is trying to understand the situation in Patna and Godhra and gather evidence. This step has been taken to ensure accurate and fair investigation in the paper leak case. Data received by Gujarat Police from NTA revealed that preparations were made to pass a total of 16 students. Out of these, 10 students are from Gujarat, while 6 students are from other states.
NTA under question
The biggest question arising from the NEET paper leak is about the National Testing Agency (NTA). For this reason, the government has removed Subodh Kumar Singh from the post of NTA Director General and appointed Pradeep Kharola as the new Director General. A high-level committee has also been formed under the chairmanship of former ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan to review the functioning of NTA, which will consider the possibilities of transparency and improvement.
NTA was formed in 2017 to conduct important entrance examinations in the country in a professional manner. The aim was to make NTA a professional and efficient institution that would conduct only online examinations in collaboration with reliable and qualified technical partners. It was planned to be built on the model of America's Educational Testing Service ETS.
ETS is a private organization in America that conducts prestigious examinations like Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) for admission to colleges and universities.
NTA also conducts 25 public and major exams, like NEET for admission in medical colleges, UG NEET for admission in engineering colleges, PG, JEE Mains exam, CUET for admission in central universities, Common Management Admission Test for admission in management institutes, i.e. the responsibility of conducting such major exams is on the shoulders of NTA.
Staff shortage in NTA
According to experts, it does not even have 25 people as permanent staff. They come on deputation from other government departments. Apart from this, there are temporary employees on fixed-term contracts. NTA has a shortage of staff, so the work of setting the paper is done by outside experts.
Such exams require highly technical professionals and expertise, hence the private technology partners should also be highly reputed, have large IT infrastructure and strict cyber security protocols.
In the initial years, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was the partner technical agency of NTA. When NTA was formed, it was designed to conduct online exams. JEE and CUET exams are conducted on computers, but NEET exam is conducted with pen and paper.
