Hazaribagh Paper Leak: Here's What The CBI Has Uncovered

The Central Bureau of Investigation has revealed that the alleged mastermind behind the NEET paper leak case concerning the states of Bihar and Jharkhand is Bokaro engineering student Pankaj Kumar, who also went by the name of Aditya.

CBI's investigation revealed that the paper was accessed by Pankaj alias Aditya from Oasis School in Hazaribah, Jharkhand, on May 5.

Pankaj arranged the robbery with the alleged aid of the principal and vice principal, both of whom, according to NDTV's Neeta Sharma, were made conveners by the National Testing Agency.

NDTV broke the story about Oasis School being the genesis of the paper leak two months ago. The CBI has confirmed this fact and has arrested the principal and vice principal in relation to this case.

Pankaj broke into the strong room where the papers were stored in a trunk on the morning of the exam, under the alleged compliance of the principal and vice principal, who did not reportedly raise the alarm.

Pankaj then allegedly used sophisticated tools to open the trunk and steal the NEET papers. The trunk and the tools were later seized by the investigating authorities.

The stolen papers were handed to a "solver gang,"  who were brought to Hazaribagh on the morning of May 5. The gang, consisting of MBBS students from Patna, solved the papers and sold the answers to students for a price range of Rs 30 to 50 lakh.

They allegedly operated out of a play school in Patna, where remains of the burned papers were found, which were later confirmed via CBI investigation to be the very same that were leaked from Hazaribagh due to matching codes.

Pankaj had allegedly gone into hiding by then. The CBI quickly traced and arrested him and his other associates, including the school principal Ahsanulhaq and vice principal Imtiaz Alam, among others.

The FIR was filed with the Shastrinagar police station in Patna under Sections 407, 408, 409 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code.

The CBI has so far raided 33 places and arrested 36 accused, of whom 15 were arrested by the Bihar Police before they were handed over to CBI custody, NDTV reported.