The probe into irregularities in this year’s NEET-UG for admission to undergraduate medical courses would have been concluded by now had the National Testing Agency (NTA) provided question paper samples to match with a burnt booklet recovered a day before the May 5 exam from Patna, a senior officer from Bihar police’s Economic Offence Unit (EOU) alleged on Tuesday.
The officer, requesting anonymity, added it was for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has now taken over the cases registered in Bihar as well as in Gujarat and Rajasthan in connection with NEET-UG irregularities, to take the probe to its conclusion.
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Giving details of the investigation conducted thus far by the EOU, the officer blamed the NTA, which conducted the medical entrance examination, for delay in providing question paper samples to the Bihar police.
“It was not sent and we could get it only on June 20 when the EOU was called to Delhi and the issue was raised as to why the samples were not sent despite three reminders. Soon after we got the sample there, we discovered the (burnt) booklet belonged to a centre at Oasis School in Hazaribagh,” the EOU officer told HT. “We were able to match 68 questions (in the NTA samples from those in the burnt booklet) right there.”
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After the Hazaribagh link was established, a Bihar police’s team under an additional superintendent of police (ASP)-rank officer was sent to examine the two boxes in which questions were transported to the exam centre, the officer said, adding both boxes had been tampered with. The superintendent at the exam centre told the police that the digital locks on the boxes could not be opened due to some technical issue and they broke them open on the NTA’s direction, the officer added.
“There were two boxes and both had their seals tampered with from the rear side, while the front portion was intact. The boxes had two locks each — one manual and one digital. The suspicion grew after officials found that the latches and hinges had been tampered with and the seal over them was also affected,” the EOU officer said. “The envelopes inside the boxes had also been tampered with from the rear side, while the upper portion was intact. We have sent all these evidences to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL).”
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The officer said the probe had reached an advanced stage, with the EOU establishing that the boxes carrying question papers were tampered with to compromise the sanctity of the questions. “The digital locks can get automatically locked if any attempt is made to open them with wrong quotes. We don’t know if similar situation arose at other centres as well,” he added.
NH Khan, additional director general of police, EOU, said the matter is now with CBI and the EOU will hand over whatever credible evidences it has collected to the federal agency. “We also have to submit our report to the Supreme Court and that we will do in a sealed envelope with the up-to-date status of our investigation and evidences gathered thus far,” Khan added.
