The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra Police also arrested a Zilla Parishad schoolteacher from Latur and registered a case against four persons after it emerged that a racket was being operated to help NEET students willing to pay money to crack the exam.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider abolishing NEET, the national-level medical entrance exam introduced in 2013, and reverting to the system of states conducting the exam in the wake of the paper leak row.
Several opposition MPs said on the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha that the government will have to answer on the issue in Parliament as it is causing hardship to lakhs of students.
As Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan proceeded to take oath in Lok Sabha, members of the Opposition shouted “NEET, NEET”.
Amid protests and litigation, the Centre had on Saturday shunted out National Testing Agency (NTA) Director General Subodh Singh and handed over the probe into irregularities in NEET-UG to the CBI, which is now probing a total of six cases in the matter.
Pradeep Singh Kharola took the additional charge of NTA on Monday and had meetings with officials of the testing body.
The Education Ministry had also set up a seven-member panel headed by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan to review the NTA’s functioning and recommend exam reforms and it was slated to meet Monday evening.
Pradhan had asserted that it was the first of a series of steps to improve the efficiency of the examination process, put an end to all possible malpractices, strengthen data security protocols and overhaul and reform the NTA.
The Centre on Monday also made public the rules under the recently notified anti-paper leak law, mandating the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) to prepare norms, standards and guidelines for the computer-based tests among others.
The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Rules, 2024 have provisions for “engagement of services of other government agencies by public examination authority”, “preparations of norms, standards and guidelines” and “reporting of incidents of unfair means or offences” among others.
Officials at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said the central agency has re-registered one case each from Gujarat and Bihar and three cases from Rajasthan as its own FIR. It is also likely to take up another case from Maharashtra’s Latur.
Barring the case from Bihar, the other four appear to be isolated incidents of impersonation and cheating by local officials, invigilators and candidates, the officials said.
The CBI has already registered its own FIR in connection with the case on a reference from the Union education ministry to conduct a comprehensive probe, they said.
After taking over these new cases, the CBI is now probing six cases of alleged irregularities in NEET-UG.
The Economic Offences Unit of the Bihar Police arrested five more persons on Sunday, taking the total arrests to 18.The Centre has drawn flak over alleged irregularities in NEET-UG and UGC-NET.
In a letter to the PM, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee called for strong action against those involved in the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG exam.
“I strongly urge upon you to consider and take immediate steps to restore the previous system of conducting this examination by the state governments and abolish the NEET examination.
“This will help restore normalcy and confidence of the aspirant students in the system,” she said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Anil Desai said addressing the NEET-UG row requires more than arresting a few individuals and claimed the involvement of a broader network in the case.
“The entire reputation has been tarnished because of NEET. Simply arresting one or two officers will not resolve the issue. There is an extensive racket at work,” alleged the Mumbai South Central MP.
Days after Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha claimed that an arrested prime suspect is linked to officials associated with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, RJD MP Manoj Jha claimed proximity between those named for paper leaks and leaders of the JD(U) and BJP.
While the medical entrance exam question paper was allegedly leaked, according to an investigation by the Bihar Police, UGC-NET was cancelled a day after it was conducted following input that the exam’s integrity had been compromised. Both matters are now being investigated by the CBI.
Two other exams—NEET-PG and CSIR-UGC NET—have been cancelled by the government amid the row.
Meanwhile, the Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) held a protest at Jantar Mantar.
Ahead of their planned march to Parliament, police barricaded the area and more than two dozen students, some of them NSUI members, were detained.
Amid a row over alleged irregularities in competitive exams, opposition MPs said on the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha that the government will have to answer on the controversy in Parliament.
Several newly-elected members who took oath in the Lok Sabha on Monday said the government is not considering the hardship of students who are feeling stuck in limbo.
The credibility of the examination system has also come under question, they said.
As Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan proceeded to take his oath, members of the opposition raised “NEET, NEET” slogans, as the controversy over alleged irregularities in competitive exams, including the medical entrance exam National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) and the University Grants Commission–National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) continues to rage.
DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi said Tamil Nadu had been raising questions on the credibility of NEET for a long time and now the entire country is echoing those thoughts.
“The credibility of exams conducted by the government is under question. Tamil Nadu always said ‘we don’t want NEET’ and wanted to be exempt from it. Today, it is clear that this exam is not really fair … Now, the whole country is saying what we have been saying for a long time,” she told reporters outside Parliament.
Pappu Yadav, the Independent MP from Bihar’s Purnea, questioned the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) taking over the probe into irregularities in NEET-UG.
“The case has been handed over to the CBI because the Bihar Police’s Economic Offences Unit wanted to interrogate National Testing Agency (NTA) officials … That is why they quickly ordered a CBI probe. We will raise the issue in Parliament and demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into it,” Yadav said.
Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury said the issue will reverberate in Parliament.
“It is our responsibility to raise the NEET issue. Lakhs of children’s hard work and their parents’ money were wasted. The government is not taking their hardships into account. They neither can move forward nor step back. We were elected to raise the issues of the people … We will raise it in Parliament,” she told reporters.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh claimed the BJP is now being called an IPL (Indian Paper Leak) team.
“There are two to three important issues to consider. First is the NEET paper leak. The UGC exam was cancelled, and NEET-PG postponed. Whichever exams the NTA conducted, (papers) got leaked. People are calling the BJP an IPL team,” he said.
Samajwadi Party MP Iqra Hasan demanded that the government find a permanent solution to the “examination mess”.
“It’s a very important issue ... The country’s youngsters are being cheated. If an exam is scheduled, either it is postponed or the paper is leaked. The government should find a permanent solution to this examination mess,” she said.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that paper leaks were taking place in BJP-ruled states and claimed it was a “deliberate” attempt to dissuade youngsters from seeking employment.
“NEET is nothing new, this is an old model of the BJP. They get papers leaked. It was a major issue in Uttar Pradesh,” Yadav alleged.
“You are talking about Digital India on one hand, on the other hand paper leaks are taking place. This is being done deliberately so that youngsters do not get reservation and jobs,” he said.
Tearing into Pradhan’s remark that the NEET-UG paper leak was an “isolated incident” and hence the exam would not be cancelled, Yadav said, “It is not a localised issue. Look at history, question papers have been leaked several times under BJP governments.”
Harendra Malik, another Samajwadi Party MP, said, “Repeated paper leaks is unfortunate. The youngsters are the future of any country and you (government) are playing with their futures.”
The Centre has drawn flak over alleged irregularities in NEET-UG and UGC-NET.
While the medical entrance exam question paper was allegedly leaked, according to an investigation by the Bihar Police, UGC-NET was cancelled a day after it was conducted following input that the exam’s integrity had been compromised. Both the matters are now being investigated by the CBI.
Two other exams—NEET-PG and CSIR-UGC NET—have been cancelled by the government amid the row.
Meanwhile, the Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) had planned a march to the Parliament on the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha.
The students, holding placards and NSUI flags, gathered in large numbers at Jantar Mantar for their ‘Chhatra Sansad Gherav’.
Ahead of the protest, police barricaded the area to prevent the students from taking out their march. More than two dozen students, some of them NSUI members, were detained.
