Leaked NEET paper matched with exam paper: Confessed candidates

Anurag Yadav, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) candidate arrested in connection with the result irregularities, has admitted that the leaked question paper provided to him matched the actual exam question paper.

Not just Yadav, another student, Abhishek Kumar and his father, Awdhesh Kumar have also submitted their confessional letters to the police.

In his statement to the police, Anurag said he had been preparing for the medical entrance exam in Kota. "My uncle Sikandar Yadavendu works as a junior engineer at Danapur municipal council. He told me to come back to Samastipur. He said 'exam ka setting ho chuka hai' (exam is all sorted). I returned to Samastipur and my uncle dropped me at the home of Amit Anand and Nitish Kumar."

Anurag Yadav is among the four people arrested in Bihar in the paper leak case that has sparked nationwide protests and put the central government on the back foot.

Anurag has said in his confessional letter that Amit Anand and Nitish Kumar handed him some questions and answers, and asked him to memorise them. "The next day, when I went for the exam, I found all the questions I had prepared. After the exam, police suddenly arrested me," he has said.  Sikandar Yadavendu, Amit Anand and Nitish Kumar have also been arrested. The confessional letter also bore Anurag's signature.

A confession letter by Abhishek Kumar, another NEET student, mentioned the names of two people - Amit Anand and Nitish Kumar, who provided him with study materials (the leaked question paper). Kumar further said he found striking similarities between the paper provided to him and the actual exam question paper.

A letter by Abhishek Kumar's father, Awdhesh Kumar, admitted to bribing some officials to get his son to pass the NEET exam. "I signed a blank cheque for them a year back. Two blank cheques from my account were handed over to Yadavendu in return for passing my son in the NEET exam," Awdhesh Kumar wrote in his letter."The settlement was made at Rs 40 lakh," he added.

Meanwhile, the Union Education Ministry on Wednesday sought a report from the Bihar Police's Economic Offences Unit regarding the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the NEET exam in Patna, officials said.

The NEET UG examination was held on May 5 across 4,750 centres and around 24 lakh candidates appeared for it. The results were expected to be declared on June 14 but were announced on June 4, apparently because the evaluation of the answer sheets was completed earlier.