NEET: CBI arrests Patna duo, detains Jharkhand principal, takes over Latur case

PATNA/HAZARIBAG/CHATRA: CBI made its first two arrests in the NEET-UG paper-leak case in Bihar on Thursday, picking up a pair of suspects accused of arranging accommodation in Patna for some medical aspirants to spend the night before the May 5 test memorising answers to leaked questions under the guidance of "handlers".
In Jharkhand's Hazaribag, CBI detained and interrogated seven people, including the principal of a private school that functioned as a NEET-UG test centre.
A half-burnt question paper bearing the Hazaribag centre's code was found in the Patna "safe house" where a batch of examinees spent exam-eve preparing for the test with leaked questions and answer keys.
The arrests in Bihar and the school raid in Jharkhand coincided with the Maharashtra govt transferring a NEET paper-leak case filed in Latur last Sunday to CBI. Police arrested two teachers of a zilla parishad-run school, while another two suspects - an ITI instructor and a man from Delhi - are absconding.
CBI NEET probe team in Hazaribag collects CCTV footage, seizes a laptop and 2 mobiles
The CBI team in Hazaribag collected CCTV footage and confiscated a laptop and two mobile phones belonging to the detained principal of Oasis School, Ehsanul Haque. Sheaves of documents and 15 pen drives were seized from the campus. Forensic experts scanned an SBI bank branch in Hazaribag whose strongroom was used to keep NEET-UG question papers. The arrests in Patna came four days after CBI took over the case from the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar, which had unearthed a trail that led to Jharkhand and UP, among other states.
The duo, Manish Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar, told interrogators that they were tasked with destroying the leaked question papers after the examinees left with their handlers on the morning of the test. Two others arrested by EOU - Baldev Kumar, alias Chintu, and Mukesh Kumar - were remanded in CBI custody after being brought from Beur Jail for interrogation by the agency. Chintu is a relative of Sanjiv Mukhiya, the alleged mastermind of the paper leak.
CBI has also sought custody of four men arrested in Gujarat's Godhra - Purshottam Sharma, Arif Vahora, Vibhor Anand and Tushar Bhatt - after a NEET-UG paper leak was reported there. Sharma is the principal of Jay Jalaram School in Godhra, where the alleged exam malpractice occurred. Bhatt is a teacher in the same school.
Bihar suspect Ashutosh and his family are tenants in a building at Khemnichak in Patna that was used as a safe house. The building's owner, Prabhat Ranjan alias Prabhat Mukhiya, is a resident of Daniawan in Patna district, officials said.
On May 4, Manish escorted 20-25 students to the building, where they received leaked question papers and answer keys for which their parents had purportedly paid Rs 30-40 lakh each. Prabhat, Manish and Ashutosh are from neighbouring village. Prabhat's wife served two terms as mukhiya of Bankipur Machhariyawan panchayat, while he was a panchayat samiti member and block head.
Ashutosh lives on the first floor of the building, which also houses a playschool, with his wife, children and parents. An elderly woman and her daughter used to live on the ground floor, which they vacated on May 1, sources said. Prabhat said he had no idea about what his tenant was involved in. "I received information about the paper leak from a neighbour on May 6. He told me that police had raided my house and that the NEET-UG paper was leaked from there. I called Ashutosh immediately. He claimed to be travelling to Jamshedpur," he told TOI. "I knew Ashutosh as a property dealer, while Manish worked as an insurance agent."
When Ranjan visited Patna on May 7 and met both, they ostensibly admitted to "making a mistake". "I will cooperate with the investigation. In my opinion, Ashutosh is 100% guilty. He should have called me, but he didn't. CBI came to me on June 25 for an inquiry and later called me to their Patna office on June 26," Ranjan said.
(With inputs from Mumbai & Vadodara)