No Urgency: Supreme Court declines to Implead CBI, ED in NEET Paper Leak Case
New Delhi: Recently the Supreme Court denied to implead the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in the pleas alleging irregularities in the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 exam.
While considering the plea to implead the CBI and ED, the Supreme Court Vacation Bench headed by Justice A.S. Oka did not entertain an oral mentioning by Advocate Mathews Nedumpara noting that there was "no urgency" to issue notice to the CBI and ED, The Hindu has reported.
Mr. Nedumpara was representing a group of students, who approached the Apex Court against the alleged irregularities in the undergraduate medical entrance exam held on May 5, 2024, and sought cancellation of the entire examination.
As per the latest media report by The Hindu, the concerned oral mentioning by Advocate Nedumpara came at the outset of an application filed by the petitioner arguing that the ED was "duty bound to take cognisance of, investigate and secure punishment" to the accused persons behind the question paper leaks.
Filing the plea, the petitioner urged the Apex Court to implead the CBI and ED and argued that the investigation should also proceed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 and the Information Technology Act, 2000.
"The Enforcement Directorate is duty bound to take cognisance of, investigate and secure punishment. The NEET Exam, which now has undoubtedly been exposed to be a scam, has its tentacles in different parts 3 of the country… Until and unless the Enforcement Directorate takes cognisance of the matter or the Supreme Court directs the Enforcement Directorate to take action, the accused will not be brought under the stringent provisions of the PMLA," the application by the petitioner stated.
"The consequence arising out of the question paper leak which the Patna Police has now unearthed leaves the authorities with no option than to cancel the entire examination and conduct it afresh in the most foolproof manner. The mafia that has been in the business of procuring the question paper and selling the same to medical students for lakhs of rupees, an extremely profitable venture, could manage do so for quite some time with impunity in collusion with those in charge of the conduct of the examinations, has now been fully exposed," it added.
Filing the application, the petitioner alleged that the "culprits have even given confessional statements detailing who all they sold the papers to, for what price, and the manner in which the money was transferred."
The Apex Court bench has scheduled the case for detailed hearing on July 8, 2024, along with all the other pleas concerning the NEET 2024 examination.
The petitioner filed the application even though the Central Government has handed over the charge of investigating the alleged irregularities in NEET UG 2024 to CBI on Saturday. Through the application, the petitioner also sought an expedited probe and filing of an interim report on the Bihar arrests ahead of the commencement of the counselling process on July 6.
NEET Controversy:
Medical Dialogues has been reporting about the NEET UG 2024 paper leak controversies. The allegations of paper leak first came to light in Bihar. Around 13 people, including four examinees and their family members, were arrested in Bihar for their alleged involvement in the paper leak of the NEET-UG exam. Patna police sources had previously claimed that the NEET-UG question papers along with their answers were provided to around 20 aspirants a day before the date of the exam i.e. May 5, 2024.
Then, the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police, which took over the investigation, revealed that the brokers involved in the NEET paper leak scam took between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh from each of the medical aspirants in exchange for giving them the question paper of the NEET UG 2024 question paper ahead of the examination.
Multiple pleas have been filed before the High Courts and the Supreme Court seeking an investigation into the alleged paper leak scam. Some of the pleas demanded the scrapping of the NEET UG 2024 exam and holding a retest. The Central Government on June 22, 2024, handed over the charge of investigation in the alleged irregularities in the NEET UG 2024 examination to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
"Certain cases of alleged irregularities / cheating / impersonation / malpractices have been reported. For transparency on the conduct of the examination process, the Ministry of Education, Government of India after a review has decided to entrust the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for comprehensive investigation," the Ministry of Education stated in a release.
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