NEET 2024 Cheating Scandal: More than 24 culprits including 14 impersonators arrested by Bihar Police
Bihar- The Bihar Police have arrested more than two dozen individuals, including 14 impersonators and candidates,for cheating in the National Eligibility Entrance Test for Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2024 exam.
According to a recent report by HT, among those arrested, 14 people, who have been accused of impersonating registered candidates during the examination, hail from different districts of Bihar, where eight from Katihar, four from Purnia, two from Vaishali and one each from Are from Gopalganj and Patna. However, separate FIRs have been registered against these 14 solvers.
During interrogation, the accused known as “solvers” revealed that Rs 5-10 lakh each was given to several centres by the gang members.
In Purnia, four impersonators were arrested, identified as Kumar from Rajasthan, who was appearing on behalf of an aspirant, another impersoanter who was writing the paper from Bhojpur, 1 from Begusarai and another from Sitamarhi. In addition, an FIR is also being lodged against Khazanchi Hat police station.
“All the arrested solvers are medical students. They were arrested from SR DAV School Centre in Purnea during the picture verification process”, said Purnia SP Upendra Nath Verma.
Moreover, a resident of Patna city, has also been arrested by the Danapur police after she was found posing at an examination centre in place of a student from Amravati, Maharashtra.
In Patna, two examinees were caught red-handed while solving question papers with the help of answer sheets seized in the examination centre. After being caught, Patna Police registered an FIR against the examinees and others involved under sections 407, 408 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy. In Katihar, during the biometric test, seven solvers from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and one from another centre were arrested however they were forwarded to judicial custody.
Gopalganj Town police station also arrested a solver from a private school during the biometric test, who was identified as a resident of Barmer, Rajasthan. Furthermore, two solvers, are also being arrested from two different examination centres in Vaishali.
Speaking to HT, Patna SSP Rajiv Mishra said that an investigation is going on whether the question paper has been leaked or not. The paper leak gang allegedly took Rs 30 to 50 lakh from several candidates and then accommodated them in lodges in Patna where they were provided with question papers claiming to be of NEET-UG to memorise them. On this, a day after the NEET-UG 2024 examination, the police raided many hostels and lodges in the state capital and found many incriminating documents in some places.
“Interrogation of the arrested and detained people is going on and many names have also come to light. Most of them would forwarded to judicial custody and later they were remanded for further interrogation”, SSP stated.
