NEET-UG question paper leak case: CBI detains 4 AIIMS Patna medical students

PATNA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has detained four students from AIIMS Patna in connection with the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), commonly known as NEET-UG, question paper leak, according to sources familiar with the matter.

An official from AIIMS Patna reported that a CBI team searched the rooms of the four medical students from the 2021 and 2022 batches on Wednesday evening, confiscating their electronic devices and detaining them for questioning.

As of now, the CBI has not officially commented on the detention of these students.

AIIMS Director Dr G K Paul and Medical Superintendent Dr Anup Kumar did not respond to phone calls seeking their comments.

However, a senior hospital official mentioned that the CBI is investigating the four students on suspicions that they were involved in solving the leaked NEET-UG question paper.

This development follows the recent arrests by the CBI of Pankaj Kumar (alias Aditya), a 2017-batch civil engineer from Jamshedpur’s National Institute of Technology, and Rajkumar Singh (alias Raju) from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. On Wednesday, a special court in Patna remanded Pankaj Kumar to 14-day CBI custody and Rajkumar Singh to 10-day CBI custody.

The CBI has alleged that Pankaj Kumar and Rajkumar Singh stole the question paper from a National Testing Agency’s trunk in Hazaribagh.

So far, the federal agency has arrested 14 individuals in this case. One of the alleged masterminds, Rakesh Ranjan, was arrested from Nalanda on Thursday. Ranjan is accused of obtaining the leaked paper, solving it, and circulating it to MBBS aspirants. Last month, the CBI informed a court that there is a “larger conspiracy involving interstate links in the NEET-UG examination-related irregularities.”