Bihar Police seize cash, NEET-PG admit cards and OMR sheets from medical college hostel in Patna-OxBig News Network

Half-burnt admit cards for the NEET-PG exam were found along with cash in the medical college hostel in Patna
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Bihar Police on Thursday (January 9, 2024) found burnt cash of ₹2.75 lakh apart from National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Post Graduate (NEET-PG) admit cards and fake OMR sheets from Chanakya Hostel of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).

A student’s room in Chanakya Hostel had caught fire late on Tuesday (January 7, 2024) night and police on Thursday (January 9, 2024) went to assess the situation where they found these in the room of one Ajay Kumar. He is a resident of Samastipur and passed his post graduation.

Mr. Kumar is suspected of being involved in hiring MBBS students and making them appear for the NEET exam in place of the actual students.

Sources said that on Wednesday (January 8, 2024), Mr. Kumar reached the hostel with many people and got furious after seeing the condition of the rooms. Several students and junior doctors of PMCH have complained that he has forcibly occupied many rooms and does not listen even after warnings by the PMCH administration.

Half burnt notes of ₹500 and ₹100 were found in his room. A half empty liquor bottle was also confiscated from the premises.

“A fire had started in the room of Chanakya Hostel and it was illegally occupied by one Ajay Kumar. The room was not allotted to him [Mr. Kumar] and we have sought a report from the warden of the hostel. We have seized all the documents and have sought a detailed report about every document from the PMCH authority, including the admit cards and other documents,” said Sweety Sahrawat, Patna SP (Central).

Asked about any link of cheating and paper leak, Ms. Sahrawat further said: “We cannot say anything at present unless we verify all the documents whether it is old or for what purpose it was kept inside the room.”

In 2024, the NEET-UG exam in Bihar had witnessed a paper leak followed by the arrest of 45 people by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Bihar was the epicentre from where several people were arrested.

The latest development has come at a time when several students are protesting and seeking cancellation of the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) Combined (Preliminary) Competitive Examination (CCE) following an alleged paper leak. Several political parties have extended support to the students’ protest, including Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Purnia MP Pappu Yadav who has called for a ‘Bihar Bandh’ on January 12.

Recently, the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor was arrested and later granted bail over the issue of BPSC alleged paper leak case.

Meanwhile, a petition has been filed in Patna High Court today seeking re-examination of the BPSC exam after the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a PIL. The petition has been filed by one student Pappu Kumar and others.