Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha on Thursday claimed that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav's aide is linked to the alleged paper leak and malpractice in the NEET-UG 2024 row.
In a press briefing, Sinha claimed that Tejashwi Yadav's aide Pritam Kumar called an employee of the Bihar Road Construction Department (RCD) to book a room for Sikander Prasad Yadav, an engineer who had earlier disclosed was Alleged involvement of 'Mintriji' in the entrance exam queue.
Sikandar Prasad Yadavandu claimed that he recommended his nephew Anurag Yadav, a NEET candidate, his mother and other associates to stay in a government bungalow in Patna. Anurag Yadav is currently behind bars for examination irregularities.
Vijay Kumar Sinha claimed that he conducted a departmental inquiry into the matter, and found that Pritam Kumar had called an RCD staffer named Pradeep to book a room at the Bihar NHAI guest house on May 1 – across the country. Four days before the exam.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister alleged that there are call details of Pritam Kumar calling Pradeep.
“I demand a high-level probe into the matter. They are out of power, but want to play with the future of lakhs of candidates,” Sinha said.
He further said that he has suspended three employees of Road Construction Department including Pradeep in connection with room booking.
However, the Bihar NHAI denied reports of the accused staying in its guesthouse in a statement, noting that it “does not have any guesthouse facility in Patna”.
“Some sections of the press have reported that the accused in the NEET paper leak case stayed at the NHAI guest house in Patna. NHAI wishes to clarify that NHAI does not have any guest house facility in Patna”.
In his acknowledgment letter, Sikandar Prasad Yadavandu wrote that his nephew informed him about achieving the desired results “as promised earlier”. The engineer also revealed that he was in touch with a racket, which specialized in leaking question papers of candidates for NEET, UPSC and other exams.
Yadavandu also claimed that he had made logistical arrangements for other candidates, namely Ayush Raj, Sivanandan Kumar, Abhishek Kumar, Anurag Yadav and Anurag's mother Reena.
Meanwhile, on the first day, Anurag Yadav admitted in his confessional letter. That the leaked question paper provided to him is identical to the original examination question paper.