NEET UG question paper theft case: CBI files 5th chargesheet against five in Patna court

The charge sheet has been filed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy), 109 (Abetment), 409 (Criminal Breach of Trust), 420 (Cheating), 380 (Theft), 201 (Causing Disappearance of Evidence), and 411 (Dishonestly Receiving Stolen Property) and under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018), said the CBI in a press release.

The 5 accused individuals chargesheeted are Amit Kumar Singh, a resident of Dhanbad, Sudip Kumar and Yuvraj Kumar, both residents of Bokaro, Abhimanyu Patel, a resident of Nalanda and Amit Kumar, a resident of Patna. With this, the total charge-sheeted accused in this case stands at 45, and all of them are in judicial custody.

The CBI had earlier filed four charge sheets on August 1, September 19, October 5 and November 7 against 40 other accused.

CBI took over the investigation of the case from Shastri Nagar Police Station, Patna on June 23 this year.

Names of the candidates, who are beneficiaries of the paper theft / unfair means and names of the MBBS students who had solved the stolen paper or who had appeared in the exam as impersonators have already been identified and shared with National Testing Agency (NTA) /Ministry of Education, said the CBI.

The NTA conducts the NEET UG for admissions to government and private medical institutes in the country. This year, the exam was conducted on May 5. Initially, the Bihar Police had launched a probe after an alleged paper leak, later, the Centre handed over the probe to the CBI.

Earlier, the investigation revealed that the NEET UG 2024 question paper was stolen from the control room of OASIS School in Hazaribagh on May 5. The theft occurred after the trunks containing the question papers arrived from the bank vault.

According to the CBI, one of the accused Pankaj Kumar was allowed entry into the control room by the school's Principal, Ahsanul Haque, and Vice Principal, Imtiyaz Alam.

"The accused Pankaj Kumar was clandestinely allowed entry into the control room by Ahsanul Haque, the Principal, and Imtiyaz Alam, the Vice Principal of the school as part of the conspiracy. Pankaj Kumar tampered with the hinges of the trunk containing the question papers, removed one question paper, photographed all its pages, replaced back the paper and resealed the trunk, and exited the control room," the CBI stated.

After leaving the school, Pankaj handed the photographs of the question paper to his accomplice, Surendra Kumar Sharma, at Raj Guest House in Hazaribagh. The stolen question papers were printed and given to a group of MBBS students--Karan Jain, Kumar Shanu, Rahul Anand, Chandan Singh, Surbhi Kumari, Deependra Sharma, Raunak Raj, Sandeep Kumar, and Amit Kumar--who solved the paper, the agency had said earlier.

Following this, the solved question papers were then distributed to the candidates present at the Raj Guest House, Hazaribagh. Further, the solved question paper was scanned and sent digitally to predetermined locations where the members of the accused gang received them.Only those who paid in advance could enter these locations, it said.

After their exams, the candidates were prohibited from taking any printed copies with them. The CBI found half-burnt pieces of the question paper at Learn Play School, Patna, which led them to OASIS School, the CBI had said earlier.(ANI)