NEET Paper Leak Case: Bihar Police arrests six people from Jharkhand's Deoghar

The Bihar Police have detained six people from Deoghar district in Jharkhand regarding alleged irregularities in the NEET medical entrance exam, an official stated on Saturday.

They were taken into custody from a house near AIIMS-Deoghar in the Devipur police station area on Friday night, he added.

"The Bihar Police gave us a tip-off. On our identification, they were taken into custody. All the suspects have been taken to Bihar," SDPO (Deoghar Sadar) Ritvik Srivastava told PTI.

The suspects were allegedly staying at the house of Jhunu Singh, according to the official. They have been identified as Paramjit Singh alias Bittu, Chintu alias Baldev Kumar, Kaju alias Prashant Kumar, Ajit Kumar, Rajiv Kumar alias Karu, all from Nalanda district in Bihar, and Panku Kumar, as stated by the Deoghar Police.

NEET-UG was conducted by the NTA on May 5, with around 24 lakh candidates participating. The results were announced on June 4, but allegations of question paper leaks and other irregularities surfaced in states like Bihar.

An investigation team from Bihar also visited Hazaribag on Friday evening in connection with the case, according to the police.

Hazaribag Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Kumar Sibhashish reported that an investigating team from Bihar arrived in Hazaribag but did not share any details. The team visited Lohsinghna police station and spoke with the officer in charge.

Lohsinghna police station in-charge, Sandeep Kumar, said the team discussed the paper leak issue and was looking for a courier involved in the case. No arrests were made in Hazaribag during the visit.

Regarding Hazaribag's alleged connection to the paper leak issue, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Nancy Sahay stated, "We have not received any information at the district level. However, if anything has happened, we will definitely contribute to solving the issue."

Sources mentioned that the Bihar Police also investigated a courier service office in Ranchi under the Sadar police station area. However, Sadar police station in-charge Kuldeep Kumar said they have not been officially informed about this matter.

A source in Bihar Police's Economic Offences Unit (EOU) told PTI, "Six people have been detained in Jharkhand's Deoghar in connection with the case. Whether to declare them arrested or not would be decided on the basis of evidence and leads found from them." "We will verify every suspect as per due process of law and then take a final call. We can seek clarification from any suspect as part of our investigation," he added.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand RJD has postponed its planned protest over the NEET 'paper-leak' issue in Ranchi on Saturday. State RJD general secretary and media in-charge Kailash Yadav said the women's cell of the party was scheduled to burn an effigy of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in protest against the paper leak.

"We have postponed it, as we have decided to organise the protest on a large scale," he added.