NEET re-exam likely by June end; CBI probe heading towards Telegram chats

NEW DELHI: The NEET UG re-exam, cancelled following the question paper leak, may be held by the end of June or early July. The National Testing Agency, the exam organiser, started the process of preparing a new question paper. A new panel of education experts will be appointed for this.

Meanwhile, the court sent the five accused in the question paper leak racket to CBI custody for a week. The accused are BAMS student Shubham Khairner, BJP leader Dinesh Biwal, his brother Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Yash Yadav. Judge Ajay Gupta accepted the CBI's argument that there was a big conspiracy and that the accused should be questioned in detail. The source of the leak, the money involved, the depth of the planning, and the role of officials need to be investigated.

The remand report said that the accused shared a PDF with over 400 questions by creating WhatsApp and Telegram groups. It also contained 120 questions from the original question paper. Mangilal's chats with Shubham Khairner were crucial. Mangilal asked Shubham if he could arrange the question paper for his son. He offered Rs 12 lakh. This text message was exchanged last April. Shubham shared the question paper in PDF format in Telegram through his acquaintance, Yash Yadav. The transaction was for Rs 10 lakh. Mangilal gave it to his son Aman Biwal and his relatives, students. Yash's friend Vikas Biwal is another intermediary. Chats between the accused and the leaked question paper were recovered from the mobile phones of the accused.