New Delhi: The NEET undergraduate question paper leak was allegedly carried out by experts engaged by the exam body itself, according to a CBI chargesheet filed in a special fast-track court that handles paper leaks and public exam fraud.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), headquartered in Delhi, conducted the NEET-UG exam on May 3, with around 23 lakh candidates appearing. After complaints that the paper had leaked before the test, the May 3 exam was cancelled and a re-test was held on June 21.
As per the 94-page chargesheet, subject experts prepared and translated the paper for Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology at the NTA’s confidential unit in Okhla, South Delhi, in April. Investigators allege that during translation work, experts were given blank sheets for note-taking, which were misused to copy questions and answers and take them out.
The chargesheet names a professor involved in Chemistry translation as having written down all 135 questions and answers on the provided sheets and removed them secretly. It also alleges that experts translating Botany and Zoology into Marathi marked related portions in NCERT textbooks after returning to their rooms, while the Physics translator similarly noted down question points outside the secure area.
The CBI has cited security lapses, including the absence of round-the-clock CCTV monitoring and lack of checks while entering or exiting the confidential unit. The leaked content was allegedly routed through intermediaries to coaching centres, and candidates and parents were contacted in states including Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana and Bihar, with payments reportedly going up to Rs 12 lakh. Notes and mobile phones seized from arrested professors were sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, which confirmed the malpractice, the chargesheet said.
