30 arrested for malpractices in NEET-UG re-exam in Bihar

The police arrested at least 30 people allegedly for attempting irregularities in the NEET-UG re-examination in Bihar, an officer said on Monday.

While 18 people working in the exam centres were arrested for violating the biometric verification norms, the majority of the others were impersonators who tried to write the exam in place of the genuine candidates.

The re-examination was conducted across the state on Sunday amid tight security after the original undergraduate medical entrance test, held in early May, was cancelled amid widespread allegations of a question paper leak. ADG (Law and Order) Sudhanshu Kumar said 18 staff members associated with the biometric verification system had been arrested for allegedly colluding with dummy candidates and middlemen by compromising the verification process.

According to a statement issued by Lakhisarai police, nine impersonators, a genuine candidate, and two associates were also apprehended. Among the impersonators were one fourth-year MBBS student each from New Jalpaiguri Medical College (West Bengal), AIIMS Raebareli (UP) and AN Magadh Medical College (Bihar), along with a first-year student at Government Medical College in Satna (Madhya Pradesh), an MBBS intern at University College of Medical Sciences in Shahdara (Delhi), a fourth-year B.Pharma student at NMCH Patna, and another student at NMCH Patna.

Two of the impersonators were female: a BSc nursing student at BHU, and a BAMS student at Government Ayurvedic College in Odisha.

A genuine candidate, Sanjeet Kumar of Nalanda district, was also arrested for irregularities.

Among the arrested biometric verification staff, three were supervisors and a fourth-year MBBS student at PMCH Patna.

The ADG said that two FIRs were lodged in the Kiul and Kavaiyya police stations of the district.