CBI officers probing UGC-NET paper leak attacked in Bihar

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team probing the Union Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC NET) paper leak case was allegedly attacked by residents in a village in Bihar’s Nawada district, police said on Sunday, adding four people were arrested following a complaint from the federal agency.

CBI team probing UGC-NET paper leak case attacked by villagers in Bihar

The incident occurred on Saturday evening when a four-member team of CBI from New Delhi led by an inspector-rank officer had gone to Kasiyadih village under the Rajaouli police station to investigate the UGC NET paper leak case. As soon as the team reached the village, local residents heckled the CBI sleuths and vandalised their vehicles suspecting them to be “fake” officers, a police officer said.

“A CBI team reached Nawada on Saturday evening to investigate the UGC-NET paper leak case. Without informing the local police, they reached the village where they were attacked by villagers who mistook them for fake officers,” Rajesh Kumar, station house officer (SHO), Rajouli police station, said. “As we came to know about the incident, police reached the spot and pacified people.”

Based on a complaint from the federal agency, local police arrested four people and registered a first information report (FIR) on charges of causing disruption in government work and assault, among others, Kumar said.

In a statement on Sunday evening, Nawada superintendent of police (SP) Ambrish Rahul said: “The CBI team came without any information. We got a message around 4.30 pm (on Saturday) that a CBI team has been surrounded by local villagers and there has been exchange of blows. A local police team reached there in 8-10 minutes and took control of situation...”

Another police officer said the CBI team had come to Nawada tracking some suspects based on the location of cell phone numbers allegedly involved in the UGC-NET paper leak case.

“The investigation on the basis of mobile numbers is going on. People involved in the case will be arrested,” the officer said, requesting anonymity. Police remained tight-lipped about the suspects the CBI team had come looking for in Nawada.

CBI registered an FIR into UGC-NET paper leak case on Thursday against unidentified people on the recommendation of the Union education ministry.

CBI teams rush to Gujarat, Bihar for NEET-UG leak probe

The UGC-NET, which determines the eligibility for the award of junior research fellowship and admission to PhD in Indian universities and colleges, was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on June 18 across the country. Around 900,000 students had appeared for the prestigious national exam held twice every year.

The very next day, however, the education ministry cancelled the exam saying the integrity of the exam might have been compromised, citing reports from cybercrime agencies.