NEET Row: CBI Detains 3 Doctors From AIIMS-Patna, SC To Hear 40 Pleas Today

Bhubaneswar: Hours before the hearing of petitions on NTA NEET-UG 2024 alleged irregularities in the Supreme Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday detained three doctors from AIIMS-Patna in connection with the paper leak row.

According to an India Today report, the doctors are  from the 2021 batch and have been taken into custody for questioning. The probe agency has also sealed the rooms of the doctors, and seized their laptops and mobile phones.

The detention of these doctors comes a day after the CBI arrested two more people—identified as Pankaj Kumar and Raju Singh—for allegedly stealing the question paper for the medical entrance test. While Kumar was arrested from Patna in Bihar, Singh was nabbed from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.

According to media reports, Kumar is a part of the paper leak mafia. It has been alleged that he stole the NEET-UG question papers with the help of Raju. A special court in Patna remanded Pankaj Kumar in 14-day CBI custody, while Raju was sent to 10-day custody, the reports claimed. The CBI had arrested nine persons in the paper leak case so far. It also has the custody of 13 other accused.

Meanwhile, the SC will hear nearly 40 pleas related to the alleged irregularities. According to Live Law, NTA had filed written submissions to the apex court on July 17. “The allegations of the petitioners that there has been a systemic failure as candidates have obtained unprecedented higher marks only in the top range of mark interval are misconceived and thus denied,” the NTA stated.

On July 15, media reports claimed that the apex court had issued notices to private parties on a batch of pleas filed by the NTA seeking the transfer of cases pending against it in various high courts to the SC on the same issue. Earlier, a vacation bench on June 14 had issued notices to the parties on similar pleas by the NTA.