An important discovery has emerged regarding the NEET paper leak. The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police has uncovered critical information that the digital locks on the booklet boxes sent by the National Testing Agency (NTA) to the examination centers were supposed to unlock automatically at a set time before the test commenced. However, the NTA's digital lock failed. When the boxes did not open after a considerable delay, they were manually opened.
Back on May 5th, NEET aspirants received their papers late at several exam centers. The NTA had claimed that compensation in the form of grace marks had been given to 1563 candidates due to the delay. For the first time in NEET history, these grace marks led to a record 67 top-scoring students. Now, the EOU's investigation has revealed the late opening of booklet boxes as a new concern.
Previously, a hasty distribution of two sets of papers due to delays had also been reported at three centers in Bahadurgarh, Haryana. Officials explained that after distributing two papers, one was taken back, and candidates were also allotted an additional 30 minutes. Notably, grace marks were only provided to candidates at the Haridayal School, one of these centers.
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It was reported that at the Vijaya School (examination center) located on Jhajjar Road, one box opened at 1:15 PM, and three others didn't. When the superintendent notified the NTA, they instructed to proceed with manual unlocking. Amid the confusion, both sets of papers were distributed.
According to procedure, there were two locks for manual unboxing: one accessible to the NTA's center observer and the other to the center superintendent. The NTA would typically video record the booklet unboxing. The question now arises as to why the NEET paper set's digital boxes failed to open on time.
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NEET investigation handed over to CBI
On June 22, the EOU team presented their investigative report up to June 21 to the Ministry of Education. Following this, the ministry removed Subodh Kumar Singh, the Director General of NTA, and appointed retired IAS Pradeep Singh Kharola as the new head of NTA.
