NEET paper leak row: Accused claims link with Bihar Minister during interrogation

Patna: In a shocking revelation regarding the NEET paper leak scam, a candidate in the exam, who was arrested for being an alleged accused in the matter, has claimed that he got support from a Bihar minister.

The accused candidate Yadav showed a letter on the letterhead of the said minister and claimed that using the said letter, he stayed in an NHAI government guest house in Patna.

Apart from this, the accused also claimed that he received the same set of questions that came in the NEET exam during his stay at the guest house for remembrance, Zee News has reported.

Amid such a claim by the accused candidate, a confession note by an engineer deployed at Bihar's Danapur Town Council (Danapur Nagar Parishad) has also come to light.

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The engineer, Yadavendu, who is the uncle of the accused NEET aspirant Yadav, mentioned in his confession note that he had assisted the stay of four NEET candidates and the guardian of one of them in Patna, India Today has reported. Yadavendu further added that his nephew Yadav arrived in Patna on May 4 along with his mother to appear in the NEET 2024 exams. 

As per some evidence, it was revealed the involvement of a 'Mantri Ji', who allegedly recommended the stay of the NEET aspirant, his mother and other accomplices at a government bungalow in Patna. Yadav allegedly told Yadavendu that he desired results 'as promised earlier'.

Zee News has reported that Yadavendu is a member of the father-son duo gang behind the alleged paper leak. Therefore, the entire episode showed that the Paper Leak gang had political backing also. 

In the letter, Yadavendu mentioned that he was in touch with a racket, which excelled in leaking out NEET question papers, and the papers of Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams. He further claimed that he made logistical arrangements for other candidates Ayush Raj, Shivanandan Kumar, Abhishek Kumar, Anurag Yadav and Yadav's mother.

This year's NEET UG 2024 exam was mired in controversies after a paper leak scam was revealed in Bihar. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that 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.

Meanwhile, a special team from Muzaffarpur police will go to Jodhpur AIIMS to arrest the student who appeared as a dummy candidate in the NEET exam at DAV School, Muzaffarpur. After being caught during the exam, the concerned student went missing. Commenting on the matter, the City SP informed Zee News that the principal of the school is also under suspicion and will be investigated.

City SP Awadhesh Dixit further added that police will go to Jodhpur to trace a dummy candidate from Hukmaram. Apart from this, a police team will go to Patna to find Raj Pandey, for whom Hukmaram was appearing in the exam. Pandey reportedly hails from Mithapur, Patna and had agreed to pay Rs 4 lakh to Hukmaram to write the test in his place. However, after being caught, when Hukmaram was told by the Centre staff to wait outside, he managed to escape and this led to suspicion about the exam centre's conduct.

While considering the pleas concerned NEET 2024 exam, the Supreme Court on Tuesday i.e. June 18 slammed the National Testing Agency (NTA), the authority in charge of conducting the medical entrance examination.