The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has formally arrested Dr Ehsanul Haq, the principal of the Oasis School in Hazaribag, and vice principal Imtiaz Alam along with five others concerning the NEET leak case. These arrests came after a three-day interrogation. Furthermore, a senior journalist from a local daily was questioned today as part of the ongoing investigation.
Haq was first interrogated for several hours at Oasis School on Wednesday. Subsequently, he was taken to a guest house in Hazaribag for further questioning. On Friday morning, he was brought to his school office for two hours. He was subsequently arrested with 7 others after being kept in CBI custody for over 50 hours.
The arrests came a day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took two individuals from Patna under custody in connection with the NEET-UG exam paper leak case, marking the first arrests made by the agency in this case.
The individuals arrested were identified as Manish Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar. They allegedly provided secure locations for aspirants before the examination, where the leaked papers and answer keys were distributed, according to officials.
The CBI has filed six FIRs in the NEET paper leak case. The first FIR was registered on Sunday, following the ministry’s announcement to hand over the investigation of the exam’s alleged irregularities to the central agency. This decision came after a group of protesting students demanded a CBI probe.
The CBI took over the case on Monday, visiting the office of the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police to begin their investigation into the alleged exam irregularities.
The NEET-UG, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), is an entrance exam for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across India. This year’s exam took place on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad, with over 23 lakh candidates appearing for the test.