The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the paper leak of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) 2024 on Thursday arrested one of the key accused Rakesh Ranjan alias Rocky.
Earlier this week, the CBI had searched 15 locations in Bihar and Jharkhand in connection with the case.
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Mr. Ranjan allegedly ran a racket involved in the of leaking exam papers. Sources in the CBI said that he was arrested from Jharkhand and was brought to Patna on Thursday. Mr. Ranjan was produced before a Special CBI Court of Patna where he was remanded in CBI custody for 10 days for questioning.
On June 30, the CBI team searched the house of Mr. Ranjan at his village Gagendra Bigha in Hilsa block of Nalanda district. The team had to break the lock of his house to conduct the search. It did so in the presence of two eye witnesses Gajendra Naresh and his wife Sarita Devi, both ward members.
The Hindu too had visited his village and met the ward members, however Rocky’s father Suresh Choudhary was not in the village and his house was locked.
After searching the house for nearly an hour, the agency had seized the xerox copy of some documents including HDFC bank cheque book, voter information and PAN card.
Sources said that Mr. Rocky had arranged MBBS students from Patna and Ranchi to solve the NEET paper after the leak and he is also one of the trusted gang members of Sanjeev Mukhiya, who is believed to be the kingpin in the case. He is also a relative of Mr. Mukhiya.
With the arrest of Mr. Rocky, a total of 28 people have been arrested by Bihar Police, Economic Offences Unit (EOU) and CBI. The Central agency had arrested 10 persons from Bihar.
Students and petitioners outside the Supreme Court ahead of a hearing in the NEET-UG paper leak case in New Delhi on July 11, 2024. | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
From Jharkhand, the CBI earlier arrested Hazaribagh Oasis School principal Ahsanul Haque and Vice-Principal Imtiaz Alam, along with a Hindi newspaper journalist Jamaluddin who allegedly assisted them on the day of examination. Last week, the CBI had arrested Aman Singh from Dhanbad.
CBI sources also said that Mr. Rocky was planning to flee to Nepal.
With his arrest, the CBI has come closer to Mr. Mukhiya also known as Lootan and works as technical assistant at Noorsarai Horticulture College in Nalanda. Mr. Mukhiya is a close associate of education mafia Ranjit Don who was once arrested by CBI in 2003 for being involved in Common Admission Test (CAT) paper leak. Ranjit Don also hails from Hilsa in Nalanda district.
