Bihar Deputy Chief Minister claims Tejashwi aide linked to NEET paper leak

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha on Thursday claimed that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav’s aide was linked to the alleged paper leaks and the malpractices of the NEET-UG 2024 row.

At a press briefing, Sinha claimed that Tejashwi Yadav’s aide Preetam Kumar called an employee of the Bihar Road Construction Department (RCD) to book a room for Sikandar Prasad Yadavendu, an engineer who earlier revealed an alleged involvement of a ‘Mantri Ji’ in the entrance exam row.

Sikandar Prasad Yadavendu claimed he recommended the stay of his nephew Anurag Yadav, a NEET aspirant, his mother and other accomplices at a government bungalow in Patna. Anurag Yadav is currently behind bars in connection with the exam irregularities.

Vijay Kumar Sinha claimed he conducted a departmental inquiry into the matter, and learnt that Preetam Kumar called the RCD staffer named Pradeep to book a room at the guest house of Bihar NHAI on May 1 – four days before the examination took place across the country.

The Bihar Deputy Chief Minister alleged there were call details of Preetam Kumar calling Pradeep.

“I demand a high level inquiry into this matter. They are out of power, but want to play with the future of lakhs of candidates,” Sinha said.

He further stated that he had suspended three employees of the Road Construction Department, including Pradeep, in connection with the room booking.

However, the Bihar NHAI junked the reports of the accused staying at their guest house, mentioning in a statement that it “does not have any guest house facility in Patna”.

“Some sections of the press have reported that the accused related to the NEET paper leak case stayed at NHAI guest house in Patna. NHAI would like to clarify that NHAI does not have any guest house facility in Patna,” the statement added.

In his confession letter, Sikandar Prasad Yadavendu wrote that his nephew informed him about getting desired results “as promised earlier”. The engineer also stated that he was in touch with a racket, which excelled in leaking question papers for aspirants of NEET, UPSC and other examinations.

Yadavendu also claimed he made logistical arrangements for other candidates, namely Ayush Raj, Shivanandan Kumar, Abhishek Kumar, Anurag Yadav and Anurag’s mother Reena.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, in his confession letter, Anurag Yadav admitted that the leaked question paper provided to him matched the actual exam question paper.