Three people, including two aides of a coaching centre and a UGC-NET aspirant were questioned by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in east Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar district on Saturday in connection with the UGC-NET paper leak case, confirmed senior police officials. They said the CBI team was camping in Kushinagar district since Friday night and questioned the suspects at Padrauna police station on Saturday.
Earlier, the UGC-NET June 2024 exam conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) on June 18, was cancelled on June 19. Simultaneously, the union government handed over the matter to the CBI for thorough investigation, according to a social media post by the Ministry of Education on Wednesday.
The exam was cancelled following the alleged question paper leak, that was held in OMR (pen and paper) mode in two shifts across the country.
The CBI had registered an FIR into the paper leak case on Thursday against unidentified people on a reference from the Union education ministry.
An official privy of the investigation informed that the CBI team first reached the house of coaching centre owner, but he was found missing. Thereafter the CBI took two of his aides into custody and released them after multiple hours of questioning, he added.
He further said that the CBI team took another suspect, who allegedly posted a portion of the paper on instant messaging service Telegram, from Siddhua locality of Kushi Nagar and brought him to Padrauna Kotwali in the district where he is being questioned till last reports came in. He said the third suspect is the UGC-NET aspirant and had taken coaching in Lucknow and Kota, Rajasthan before appearing in the exam on June 18.
{{/usCountry}}He further said that the CBI team took another suspect, who allegedly posted a portion of the paper on instant messaging service Telegram, from Siddhua locality of Kushi Nagar and brought him to Padrauna Kotwali in the district where he is being questioned till last reports came in. He said the third suspect is the UGC-NET aspirant and had taken coaching in Lucknow and Kota, Rajasthan before appearing in the exam on June 18.
{{/usCountry}}He said the CBI team also carried out searches at some places on the information revealed from the questioning of the three suspects and further investigation is still underway.
On Wednesday, the University Grants Commission (UGC) received certain inputs from National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs on the Examination. “These inputs prima-facie indicate that the integrity of the aforesaid examination may have been compromised”, the ministry said in a press release and added, “The exam has been cancelled to ensure the highest level of transparency and sanctity of the examination process. A fresh examination shall be conducted, for which information shall be shared separately.”