New Delhi/Bihar: Amid a flurry of developments related to the Neet-UG 2024 exam, the CBI on Sunday took over the probe into alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam following a reference from the Union education ministry, while in an optional re-test held for students whose grace marks were scrapped after the matter reached the Supreme Court, 48 per cent of 1,563 candidates did not appear.
Amid countrywide protests and litigation by aspirants, the CBI filed the FIR in connection with alleged irregularities in Neet-UG exam held on May 5 under IPC sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating), among others.
In a related development, the Gujarat government also issued a notification on Sunday, handing over the probe to the CBI, wherein additional chief secretary A.K. Rakesh issued the notification, handing over the case registered at the Godhra Taluka police station on May 8 under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal breach of trust among others.
To speed up the investigation into the alleged irregularities in the medical eligibility-cum-entrance test, the CBI has set up special teams to investigate the matter on a priority basis. A senior officer said that special teams have been sent to Patna and Godhra, where local police have registered cases in this regard. The CBI is also planning to take over the investigation of examination-related cases registered by the police in Gujarat and Bihar.
The CBI probe is based on a complaint it received from the department of higher education under the Union education ministry. In the complaint, the department of higher education said that the Neet-UG 2024 examination was conducted by the NTA on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 cities abroad, with over 23 lakh candidates appearing for the same. The complaint alleged that certain isolated incidents of irregularities occurred in a few states during the conduct of the entrance examination.
"In its communication to the CBI, the department of higher education has requested the probe agency conduct a comprehensive investigation into the entire gamut of alleged irregularities, “including conspiracy, cheating, impersonation, breach of trust and destruction of evidence by candidates, institutes and middlemen, including attempted irregularities,” an official said.
The department has also requested the CBI for an investigation into the role of public servants, if any, connected with the conduct of the examination and also into the entire gamut of events and the larger conspiracy, the education ministry official said, adding that the same has been done to ensure “transparency in the examination process”.
During the re-test on Sunday, as many as 48 per cent of the 1,563 students awarded grace marks in the Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) did not appear for the re-exam at seven centres in the country.
According to NTA officials, only 813 students appeared for the re-test while 750 did not turn up. The NTA also debarred 17 candidates who had appeared for the exam on May 5 at centres in Bihar. The agency had earlier debarred 63 candidates for adopting unfair means in the exam. On Saturday, 30 additional candidates from Gujarat's Godhara were also debarred.
Meanwhile, the NTA also said that its website and all its other web portals are fully secure. Reacting to reports that its website has been compromised, a senior officer said, "The NTA website and all its web portals are fully secure. Any information that they have been compromised and hacked is wrong and misleading.”
Hitting out at the Centre, the Congress criticised the government over the bureaucratic reshuffle in the NTA, saying the buck stops at the doorstep of the top echelons of the regime. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the NTA was projected to be an autonomous body but, in reality, was made to serve the "devious interests" of the BJP and the RSS.
In a post on X, Mr Kharge said, "In the Neet scam, the buck stops at the doorstep of the top echelons of the Modi government. Shuffling the bureaucrats is no solution to the endemic problem in the education system rotted by the BJP.”
The Centre has already shunted out NTA's director-general Subodh Singh and the education ministry has also set up a seven-member panel headed by former ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan to review the agency's functioning and recommend exam reforms.
Besides Neet-UG, three other exams -- UGC NET, CSIR-UGC NET and NEET-PG -- have also faced controversy. The UGC NET was cancelled by the government a day after the exam, while the CSIR-UGC NET and NEET-PG exams have been postponed.
In the meantime, the local police in Bihar's Nawada arrested four persons in connection with the alleged attack on the CBI team probing the UGC-NET leak case.
To combat exam malpractice, the Central government has also notified rules to implement the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act 2024. This act aims to prevent unfair practices in public examinations and address related issues.
