Neet-UG ‘paper leak’: CBI questions principal of private school in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh

Jharkhand. Jharkhand: The CBI on Wednesday questioned the principal of a private school in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh, which is under the scanner in the NEET-UG exam paper leak case, officials said. The federal agency questioned Oasis School principal Ehsanul Haque, who was also the district coordinator of the National Testing Agency (NTA), they said. The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police, which is probing the case, had recovered burnt NEET-UG question papers during a raid at the hideout of the solver gang, officials said. The EOU had said in a statement that the leaked NEET-UG question paper was allegedly obtained by the infamous Sanjeev Kumar alias Lootan Mukhiya gang from Hazaribagh’s Oasis School.

It had said that investigators had matched the partially burnt question paper recovered from the Patna safe house with the reference question paper provided by the NTA, confirming the origin of the leak. However, officials said it could not be clearly established who was behind the alleged paper leak. In an interview to the media, Haque said the box containing the question papers could not be opened because its digital lock, which should have opened automatically, was damaged.

He then approached the NTA, which asked him to use a cutter to open the box. The boxes containing the question papers have two locks – a manual lock that has to be opened with a key and cutter and a digital lock that opens with a beep sound 45 minutes before the exam. The CBI took with it the evidence collected by the investigators and held discussions with EOU officials. The EOU has arrested 18 people in connection with the case. The CBI is likely to seek their remand.