Fresh doubts have emerged regarding the NEET-UG examination after over a dozen arrests were made by the Bihar Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), even though the National Testing Agency (NTA) claims that no question papers were leaked. Sources question why authorities would make arrests if there was no paper leak.
Investigators suspect that at least 15 students from various states took the NEET-UG exam at a specific center in Godhra, Gujarat, where numerous arrests have been made. In Bahadurgarh, the principal of an exam center school claimed that students had ample time to complete their papers, yet the NTA still awarded them grace marks.
For the first time in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG), the number of students scoring 700 marks surged fivefold. The count of students scoring above 710 increased by 900%. Notably, 23 students scored 710 out of 720 marks in 2021, 12 in 2022, 48 in 2023, and 500 in 2024.
Another suspicious matter, according to sources, was the NTA’s delayed response to the Bihar government’s request for information regarding the series of papers set on fire on May 19. The NTA provided the information only on June 21, following reprimands from the Union Home Secretary.
CBI sources claim to have gathered enough evidence indicating the paper leak occurred just hours before the NEET exam commenced in Hazaribagh, Bihar. However, the NTA maintains that no question paper was found missing from storage.
Allegations have also surfaced that screenshots of fake question papers were edited to appear genuine and circulated among students to sabotage the exam. This suggests that certain vested interests aim to make the NEET exam controversial.
Initially, it was reported that 1,600 students might have benefited from the allegedly leaked NEET-UG papers. Later, the number was revised to 153 students, but there is no information about these 153 students, such as their exam centers.
Sources indicate that only 11 people in the NTA are responsible for conducting offline and online exams for over 50 lakh students. The NTA collects ₹250 crore annually from the NEET exam but spends only ₹90 crore on conducting it.
On Wednesday, the Centre informed the Supreme Court that there was neither any indication of “mass malpractice” nor any localized set of candidates benefiting, leading to abnormal scores in NEET-UG 2024. It stated that data analytics of NEET-UG 2024 results, conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, showed that the marks distribution follows the bell-shaped curve typical of any large-scale examination, indicating no abnormality.
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