CBI team probing UGC-NET paper leak case 'attacked' in Bihar’s Nawada, 4 arrested

Nawada (Bihar)/New Delhi, June 23

A CBI team probing alleged irregularities in the conduct of the UGC-NET examination was allegedly attacked by locals in Rajauli area of Bihar’s Nawada after which four persons were arrested by police on a complaint from the central agency, officials said Sunday.

The incident occurred on Saturday evening when the CBI team had gone to Kasiyadih village, they said.

“A team of CBI officials was gheroed, manhandled and attacked by a group of villagers in Kasiyadih village, under the jurisdiction of Rajauli police station, at around 4.30 pm on Saturday,” the office of the Superintendent of Police of Nawada said in a statement on Sunday.

“Immediately after receiving the information, a team of police officials led by the station house officer (SHO) of the Rajauli police station reached the spot and pacified the villagers, following which the situation was brought under control,” it said.

Police registered a case and arrested four persons in connection with the incident.

It is believed that a driver of the CBI vehicle sustained a minor injury in the attack, sources said.

According to local police officials, villagers thought that the sleuths were imposters who were falsely claiming to be CBI officials after they reached the village looking for some suspects allegedly involved in the UGC-NET question “paper leak” case based on the location of their cell phone numbers.

“CBI officials were looking for a villager—Phool Chand—in connection with the UGC-NET question paper case case. They seized two mobile phones from the house of Phool Chand,” said a senior police official in Nawada on the condition of anonymity.

An FIR was filed by the local police against the accused on charges of causing disruption in government work and assault, among others, officials said in Delhi.

The local police arrested four persons allegedly involved in the attack and they have been sent to judicial custody, they said.

The CBI had registered an FIR into the UGC-NET paper leak case on Thursday against unidentified people on a reference from the Union education ministry.

The UGC-NET-2024 exam for the selection of junior research fellows, assistant professors and PhD scholars was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on June 18 in two shifts across the country.

The next day, the University Grants Commission received inputs from the National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (l4C) that the paper was available on the darknet and allegedly being sold for Rs 5-6 lakh on messaging platforms, sources said.

According to the complaint from the education ministry, the inputs from I4C, which functions under the Union home ministry, “prima-facie indicate that the integrity of the examination may have been compromised”, officials said.