The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two more people from Patna in connection with the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak case. Those arrested have been identified as Ashutosh and Manish Prakash.
Manish Prakash allegedly accommodated candidates at a boys' hostel associated with Learn Play School in Patna on May 4, a day before the exam, with the help of Ashutosh. He also asked them to memorise the paper. He was arrested after being questioned by the CBI officials.
Ashutosh, one of the two accused arrested in Patna, confessed to their crime on television, India Today reported. Ashutosh told AajTak that his friend Manish brought 7 boys to the safe house on May 4 night. He further revealed that he saw more than 15 candidates in the room on May 5 morning.
Everyone was seated there till 10 am on May 5. Manish gave the printout of the paper to everyone and had a photocopy in his hand, Ashutosh added. He further said that Manish went to the back room and all the boys left at 12 pm on May 5.
Moreover, Ashutosh said that he was sitting in the front room and went to Jamshedpur on May 5. He added that he switched off his mobile phone after he got to know the safe house was raided.
Ashutosh also spoke to the administration through his wife's phone and told the person on the other side that he made a mistake on May 4. He said that his mistake was that Manish brought the boys and he let Manish stay.
The NEET-UG 2024 exam was held on May 5 across 4,750 centres and around 24 lakh candidates appeared. The results of the exam came out on June 4. Controversy erupted when as many as 67 candidates scored a perfect 720, with 6 from a centre in Faridabad in Haryana.
This raised doubts about irregularities in the exam. There was also a controversy over grace marks awarded to students to make up for the loss of time at the six centres. The Centre, however, told the Supreme Court that grace marks were being scrapped and 1,563 students would be given the option to go for a retest.