Hazaribagh: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday, June 26, detained the principal of the Oasis School in Jharkhand, Dr Ehsanul Haque after hours of questioning, sources said. The central probe agency today conducted a raid at the principal's residence and also searched the school which is alleged to be the origin of the NEET-UG paper leak.
The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) reached Jharkhand initially and went to the SBI bank following which they started grilling Haque, the district coordinator for the NEET exam here.
During interrogation, Haque said that a digital lock on a box containing question papers did not open at the designated time on the day of the exam, May 5. "The boxes had to be opened with a cutter. One box comes with a manual lock while the other comes with a digital one. There is a key and cutter for the box with a manual lock.
The one with the digital lock is supposed to unlock automatically 45 minutes before the examination. However, this did not happen here on that day," he added. Haque then approached the National Testing Agency (NTA) for suggestions and was reportedly told “cutter se digital lock ko kaat do (cut the digital lock with the cutter),” Haque said.
NTA authorities claimed that a cutter must be used to open the digital lock if it does not automatically unlock at the predetermined time. "These are electronic gadgets that are prone to malfunction. It's not a guarantee that items were altered," said a NTA representative.
Haque claimed to have learned of nine boxes containing exam papers housed in two specific banks via an email he received at 1 AM on May 5. "At 7.30 AM, nine cardboard boxes containing aluminum boxes containing question papers were given to five center superintendents and five observers," he said.
Imtiyaz Alam, the centre superintendent at Oasis School, and NTA’s observer Vishwa Ranjan said that representatives from the Bihar EOU arrived to conduct an investigation on June 21. The squad discovered that the Oasis School test center in Hazaribagh matched the serial code discovered on the burned remnants of a leaked question paper in Bihar. The two aluminum boxes containing the question papers were taken by the EOU personnel.
Earlier, Haque has refuted claims implicating his school in the leak, asserting that all procedures were adhered to strictly on their part. He emphasised the rigorous measures taken to secure the NEET examination materials and prevent any potential breaches. Despite these assurances, the transport company responsible for delivering the exam papers is now under suspicion, with investigations going on to determine the exact point and method of the breach.
The role of Nalanda resident Sanjeev Mukhiya, the prime accused in the NEET paper leak case 2024 had been earlier arrested in paper leak cases as well. He was arrested for leaking a paper of the constable recruitment exam conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission in 2016.
The Bihar's EOU concluded its probe, and handed over the NEET paper leak case to the CBI on Tuesday, June 25. EOU Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG)Dhillon said, “All the documents and evidences related to the NEET paper case have been handed over officially to the CBI. The EOU has ended its probe and further investigation will be carried out by the central agency.”
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