CBI nabs 4 AIIMS-Patna students

Aksheev Thakur

New Delhi, July 18

The CBI has arrested four medical students of AIIMS-Patna, who are alleged to be part of a “solver module” working in collusion with a key accused held two days ago, in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case.

Three of them — Chandan Singh, Rahul Anand and Kumar Sanu — are MBBS third year students and one — Karan Jain — second year student. All of them belong to Bihar. Sources told The Tribune that they might be involved in solving the leaked question paper. All of them were later sent to CBI custody for four days.

Dr Gopal Krushna Pal, Executive Director & CEO, AIIMS-Patna, said, “The CBI on Wednesday sent the names and photographs of these students and told us to seal their hostel rooms. We are cooperating with the agency. The students were initially picked up for questioning. We don’t know about their involvement in the matter or whether they are guilty or not. Their mobiles and other electronic devices have been confiscated.”

The move comes two days after the CBI arrested Pankaj Kumar, alias Aditya, a 2017-batch civil engineer from the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, who allegedly stole the NEET-UG paper from the NTA trunk in Hazaribagh. Kumar, who belongs to Bokaro, was arrested from Patna.

The agency had also arrested one Raju Singh who allegedly helped Kumar in stealing the paper. The CBI, which is probing the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam, has so far lodged six FIRs.

Earlier, the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the Bihar Police in its report mentioned the paper was leaked on May 3, a day before the NEET-UG examination, and the candidates who gave money for the paper received a solved question paper. The police also said a pdf version of the question paper was sent to a solver gang which could comprise students or doctors with good academic record. The solver gang was spread across Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, they said.