Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 15: A re-test of the controversial May 5 examination of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for the undergraduate medical courses (NEET-UG) is highly unlikely if the Supreme Court accept the findings of Central Bureau of Investigation that the alleged question paper leak was only a “localised” affair and was not a widespread one.
The CBI made the submission in its status report submitted to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover. The Supreme Court is due to resume hearing on the multiple petitions demanding a re-test of the entire NEET-UG for all the 23 lakh candidates on July 18. It has claimed that the whole examination system was compromised were made as part of a conspiracy.
The CBI sources said the agency in its report had said the leak was confined to a single exam centre in Bihar and affected only a few students. It has also contradicted the earlier claims that leaked paper was circulated on social media for widespread dissemination and has mentioned in the report that the paper was never circulated on the social media. The alleged leak of NEET-UG 2024 question paper was not a systemic failure nor carried out by an organised gang, but rather included individual instances of malpractices, the sources said.
The agency’s findings will provide clarity on the extent of the paper leak and its impact on the exam. The CBI’s submission is in tune with the stance of the Centre, which has opposed a full NEET-UG retest for 23 lakh students who appeared for the entrance exam on May 5.
“We have 100% definite information about what happened and the extent of the leak. The same has been given to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover. It includes what happened, what time it happened, for how long the paper was out and who were the beneficiaries. We’ll submit the list of beneficiaries on July 17, the next hearing,” sources said.
“We will soon come to know the main beneficiaries. We are close to finding out and the number is very small. This number is not more than 100. We will give our conclusive investigation report to the SC and then court will take a decision.” Sources said the irregularities happened at individual levels and were not part of organized activities. “This is not an organised gang. This is different from systemic aberrations because this was done at individual levels. What happened were individual cases of impersonation that were caught. It doesn’t spoil the whole process,” the official added.
“In some instances, people were promised the question papers, but got cheated and never received the papers. In some cases, invigilators tried to help students and were caught red-handed. That too was restricted to one or two rooms but all were caught. So this is not systemic failure as this didn’t affect major part of the system as such,” the source further said.
The Centre, in its affidavit before the Supreme Court, said there was no indication of “mass malpractice” in the exam. Citing data analytics of the NEET-UG 2024 results by IIT-Madras, the Centre also said there was no indication of a “localised set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores” in NEET-UG 2024. The affidavit came after the top court sought to know whether it would be feasible to use data analytics to identify suspect cases and segregate tainted students from untainted ones.
In a separate affidavit, the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the NEET-UG exam, has also claimed that the viral videos purportedly showing photos of the leaked paper on social media platform were fake. The NTA, which has been facing flak from students for its handling of the NEET exam and results, said it had carried out an analysis of the distribution of marks in the NEET exam at the national, state, city and centre level. “This analysis indicates that the distribution of marks is quite normal and there seems to be no extraneous factor which would influence the distribution of marks,” the NTA said in its affidavit.
The CBI’s sealed submission to the Supreme Court will reportedly reflect that printing presses and other services used are safe. “So far as printing Press and other places are concerned, they are all safe and no lapses happened at the place of origin. Some cases of impersonation happened that can’t be considered systemic failures. This is a major conspiracy to suggest that whole examination system is vitiated. Our role is restricted only to probing the leak and fixing responsibility.”
The CBI has registered six FIRs in the matter so far. The FIR from Bihar pertains to paper leaks, while the remaining, from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, are linked to the impersonation of candidates and cheating. The agency’s own FIR on a reference from the Union Education Ministry pertains to a “comprehensive investigation” into the alleged irregularities in the examination.
NEET-UG is conducted by the National Testing Agency for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions. This year, the exam was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. More than 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the test.
