Ahead of today’s Supreme Court hearing on NEET-UG, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has detained three doctors from AIIMS Patna related to a paper leak and irregularities in the entrance exam. These doctors, from the 2021 batch, are being questioned, with their rooms sealed and electronic devices seized.
NEW DELHI: Today (18th July): Ahead of today’s Supreme Court hearing on NEET-UG, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has detained three doctors from AIIMS Patna related to a paper leak and irregularities in the entrance exam. These doctors, from the 2021 batch, are being questioned, with their rooms sealed and electronic devices seized.
This follows the CBI’s arrest of two individuals, Pankaj Kumar and Raju Singh, for allegedly stealing the NEET-UG question paper. Pankaj Kumar, part of a paper leak mafia, and Raju Singh were detained in Patna, Bihar, and Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, respectively.
A special court in Patna has remanded Pankaj Kumar to 14-day CBI custody and Raju Singh to 10-day custody. The CBI has arrested a total of nine people and holds custody of 13 others, including the alleged kingpin, Rocky alias Rakesh Ranjan, from Bihar.
The Supreme Court is set to hear multiple petitions regarding the controversial medical entrance test. At the last hearing on July 11, the court adjourned proceedings to allow responses from the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) to be received.
On July 8, the court noted that the NEET-UG 2024 exam’s integrity was compromised and suggested a re-test might be necessary if the process was significantly affected. The court requested detailed information from the NTA and CBI about the leak, including its timing and extent.
In the meantime, both the Centre and the NTA have filed additional affidavits. The Centre’s affidavit, based on data analytics by IIT-Madras, indicated no mass malpractice or localised advantage in the NEET-UG 2024 results. The affidavit also mentioned that the counselling for undergraduate seats will begin in the third week of July and occur in four rounds.
Similarly, the NTA’s affidavit stated that their analysis of marks distribution showed no systematic failure. They attributed higher scores to a 25% syllabus reduction, which aided candidates’ performance.
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A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra will hear over 40 petitions related to the NEET-UG issue today.
