NEET-UG 2024| Initial Statements Recorded By Bihar Police Indicate Paper Leak Happened Before May 4, Says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today (July 22) verbally observed that the initial statements of the accused arrested by the Bihar Police in the NEET-UG paper leak matter suggest that the paper leak happened before May 4. A bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was hearing a batch of cases seeking to cancel the NEET-UG 2024 ( National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test) held on May 5 for undergraduate medical admissions on the ground of paper leak and other malpractices.Senior Advocate Narender Hooda appearing for the petitioners submitted that the paper leak happened before the day of the exam as opposed to the claim of the Union that the leak occurred on the morning of May 5. On the previous hearing date, the Court had called for the records of the investigation carried out by the Bihar police before the matter was taken over by the CBI,According to Hooda, Bihar police reports suggest that students received leaked papers on May 4. He argued that the leak likely happened on or before May 3rd, before the deposit of question papers to the custodian banks (SBI and Canara Bank). The first FIR initiated for a paper leak happened in Patna. The petitioner relied upon the Bihar Police's investigation report after the FIR. The CBI took over the investigation on June 25. "Bihar police materials indicate that students were given leaked papers on 4th. The leak did not happen on the morning of May 5 as was suggested. The Leak happened prior to the deposit of the question papers with the respective banks. That is the 3rd of May or prior to that." After perusing the records, CJI observed that the accused statements reveal that the students were made to memorise the answers the night before the exam (May 5)."This indicates that students were being asked to memorize on the night of the 4th which means that the leak had happened prior to the 4th," CJI said.The four main accused initially arrested by Patna Police were - Anurag Yadav (NEET-UG Candidate); Sikandar Prasad Yadvendu (Uncle of Anurag); Amit Anand (middle man) and Nitish Kumar (aided the leak). However, on further perusal of the statements, the CJI noted that the subsequent statement of Amit Anand was at variance, the first statement said that the leak happened on the night of May 4, while the second statement says that the leaked papers were received on WhatsApp in the morning of May 5.The CJI added that if one takes the initial possibility of the leak happening on the night of May 4, then the leak was committed not during the transportation of the question papers to the custodian banks and storing in the vaults of the bank's strong room."If the leak has taken place on the night of the (May) 4th, then obviously the leak did not take place at the process of transportation, and it took place prior.""Even so, we have to see if the leak is localised and confined only to Hazaribagh and Patna or whether it is widespread and systemic," CJI added. Hooda emphasized that this wasn't a small-scale incident involving a few students but rather the work of an organized gang with a history of such activities. He mentioned that key suspects- the gang members, including Sanjeev Mukhya, have not been arrested. He urged the Court to at least reconsider re-testing those 13 lakh candidates who qualified for the exam if the Court opines that a total 'Re-NEET' of 23 lakh candidates is not possible.It may be recalled that the Union/NTA took the stand that the paper leak happened only at a centre in Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) on the morning of the exam date. The leaked paper was then sent to some gang members in Patna as well.On The Issue Of Distribution Of Papers Stored At Canara Bank During the hearing, Hooda emphasized a specific incident at Hardayal School in Jhajjar. Although the question paper set from the SBI had to be distributed, the students were given papers stored in Canara bank. The students attended the wrong booklet for the full-time. He also submitted that the NTA also gave grace marks to the students of this centre on the ground of loss of time, although there was no such loss of time. Loss of time occurred only in those centres where the question papers from Canara bank were replaced midway with the correct papers (SBI set). However, in this centre, no replacement happened and the students attended the Canara bank set.He also flagged that the centre had unusually high number of toppers (6 students got 720/720 and 2 got 719 and 718) The court questioned why papers from Canara Bank were distributed when those from the State Bank of India (SBI) should have been used. NTA's counsel Senior Advocate Naresh Kaushik explained that Jhajjar was a new exam centre, and the city coordinator may have missed important instructions.NTA Counsel disclosed that over 3,000 candidates received the Canara Bank paper across eight centres. It assured the court that both sets of papers (SBI and Canara Bank) had the same difficulty level.It was further stated that in ...

NEET-UG 2024| Initial Statements Recorded By Bihar Police Indicate Paper Leak Happened Before May 4, Says Supreme Court

Anmol Kaur Bawa

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