NEET UG exam: “CJI bench was convinced that paper has been leaked,” says petitioner Alakh Pandey

New Delhi [India], July 8 (ANI): Alakh Pandey, petitioner in the NEET-UG 2024 exam case, said on Monday that the Chief Justice of India bench, in the hearing today, was convinced that the paper has been leaked and they want to determine to what extent it was leaked.

“The CJI bench was convinced of the fact that paper has been leaked…They want to determine to what extent the paper has been leaked. They have asked for the timeline related to; when is the paper prepared? Which committee prepared it? How is a paper prepared in two sets? How is paper circulated to centres? They wanted to see the chain of custody of the paper to determine the time of the paper leak,” Pandey said.

“The court wants to determine whether it (paper leak) was a systematic failure or whether it happened due to the malpractices of some individuals,” he added.

Advocate Shwetank told ANI that the questions posed by the Supreme Court have to be answered by the NTA and central government.

“The Supreme Court has raised some questions that have to be answered by the NTA and Union Government. The Supreme Court has asked them to provide the data within the next three days. How has the paper travelled? What time was it sent to the examination centre? What time was it distributed to the students? The Supreme Court observed that if segregation is possible, then re-examination is not mandatory,” he said.

The Supreme Court observed on Monday that one thing is clear: a leak (of question paper) has taken place. The question is: how widespread is the reach? The paper leak is an admitted fact.

The Court asked the NTA to identify the candidates who benefited from the NEET-UG paper leak.

Supreme Court also directed the NTA to make full disclosure into 3 aspects — when the leak of question papers took place, manner in which papers were leaked/disseminated, and the time duration between the leak and actual conduct of exam.

It also asked the investigating officer of the CBI to file a status report indicating the status of investigation up to date and material which has come to light.

Senior Advocate Narender Hooda said, “The petitioner’s arguments for cancellation of the examination and holding a fresh exam have been recorded in the order. The NTA, CBI and Union Government have been asked to file affidavits indicating whether tainted can be separated from untainted. CBI has been specifically asked to file a status report.”

The Apex Court directed the investigating officer to place before it the material which has been gathered and would have bearing on when the leak is alleged to have first taken place and the modality.

The court also asked NTA to identify centres/cities where the leak took place.