Jharkhand exam centres under Bihar police’ radar amid NEET probe
Oasis School is on the top of the list of suspected centres. St Xavier’s School, DAV Public School, Holy Cross School are also under the radar.
Five Jharkhand schools, which served as examination centres for the National Eligibility Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG), have come under the scanner of Bihar Police over their possible involvement in paper leaks, officials said on Sunday.
While Oasis School in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand is on the top of the list of suspected centres, St Xavier’s School, DAV Public School, Holy Cross School and Vivekananda Central School – all in the city – are also under the radar.
The development comes a day after the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police, which is probing alleged irregularities in the conduct of the crucial medical exam, detained five people, including a key suspect, from Bihar in Deoghar in Jharkhand.
A total of 18 people have been arrested by the EOU in connection with the case that has escalated the controversy over allegations of paper leak, malpractice, manipulation of examination centres, and discrepancies in declaration of results in the premier medical entrance examination across the country this year. One of the arrested persons had earlier confessed to receiving a leaked question paper, police said.
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“The EOU team suspects that the paper leaked from one of the five schools where NEET-UG was held and is probing in that direction. The schools are Oasis school, St Xavier’s School, DAV Public School, Holy Cross School and Vivekananda Central School in Hazaribagh. Oasis is on top of the suspicion list but nothing concrete has been found so far,” a police officer in Hazaribagh said, seeking anonymity.
An EOU officer, who did not wish to be identified, said: “The principal of Oasis School in Hazaribag told the probing team that the digital locks (of lockers where question papers were kept) were opened after getting the consent of senior officials authorised by the National Testing Agency (which conducts the exam).”
Besides, the role of medical students at the Ranchi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in the alleged paper leak is also being probed, the officials said. “Our team also visited RIMS to ascertain if any student from the institute was hired to solve the questions,” the officer said.
Ranchi superintendent of police Chandan Kumar Sinha said the EOU team also visited the office of a courier agency, under Sadar police station area, which was assigned to deliver the question papers to designated banks.
On Saturday, EOU had submitted a detailed investigation report on the NEET-UG paper leak case to the Union education ministry, providing information on the probe conducted in Bihar and neighbouring states up to June 21. It named those arrested and the gangs involved in the leak, without offering personal opinions, people aware of the details earlier said.
On Thursday, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the Centre is in touch with the Bihar government and is satisfied with the state police’s investigation in the matter. “We will take final action on it soon. We are satisfied with their investigation. Officials of the Government of India and senior officials in the Bihar Police are in constant dialogue,” he said.
