Fact Check: Claim that only Muslims were arrested in NEET (UG) 2024 paper leak case is misleading

Hyderabad: The NEET (UG) 2024 results have sparked controversy, with 67 students scoring a perfect 720/720, leading to accusations of paper leaks and irregularities. The National Testing Agency (NTA) has denied these allegations, but the issue has escalated, resulting in investigations and legal actions in several states.

Amid this controversy, a Facebook post claimed that only three Muslims have been arrested in connection with the NEET UG paper leak, describing the incident as ‘Exam Jihad.’

A Facebook user shared a photo of the three alleged accused and wrote, “In NEET-UG paper leak case, arrests made by CBI so far: Md Jamaluddin who was working for Prabhat Khabar, Dr Ehsanul Haq, Principal of Oasis school. Imtiaz Alam, Vice Principal Oasis school…Exam Jihad??” (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the three accused in the viral photo have been arrested in the paper leak case. However, the claim is misleading as there have been arrests of Hindu individuals also.

We ran a relevant keyword search and came across a report from The Indian Express from July 1 titled “The names behind the NEET paper ‘leak’”.

According to the newspaper, the CBI arrested Ehsanul Haque, the principal of Jharkhand’s Oasis School, and his vice-principal, Imtiaz Alam, on June 28, on suspicion of leaking the NEET UG paper. Imtiaz Alam also served as the Hazaribagh district coordinator for NEET UG, designated by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Additionally, Mohd Jamaludin, a journalist based in Hazaribagh, was arrested on June 29 for allegedly assisting the principal and vice-principal in the paper leak.

The newspaper also reported the arrest of several individuals with Hindu names in connection with the NEET UG paper leak.

The list includes Sanjeev Mukhiya, Baldev Kumar, Nitish Kumar, Amit Anand, Manish Prakash, Ashutosh Kumar, Roshan Kumar, Awadhesh Kumar, Sikander Yadavendu, Mukesh Kumar, Panku Kumar, Paramjit Singh, Rajiv Kumar, Purshottam Sharma, Tushar Bhatt, Parshuram Roy, Vibhor Anand, and Umeshwar Prasad Singh. Additionally, one more Muslim name, Arif Vohra, was mentioned among those arrested.

According to the India Today report dated June 30, the CBI interrogated 20 suspects in the NEET UG paper leak case at Beur Jail in Patna, Bihar. Among them, 13 were arrested by Bihar Police’s Economic Offences Unit (EOU), while the remaining seven are under CBI remand.

The CBI recorded separate statements from individuals identified as Chintu, Mukesh, Manish, and Mukesh. Following this, face-to-face cross-questioning was conducted, revealing contradictions in their statements. Most of the suspects named Sanjeev Mukhiya and Sikandar Yadvendu as the masterminds behind the Bihar NEET paper leak.

Hence, we conclude that the claim of only three Muslim suspects being arrested in the NEET paper leak case is misleading.