Coaching Centres at the helm, involvement of employees of exam centres and last-minute changes in exam centre – are the three major factors at play in question paper leaks, several government agencies probing the gaps in the system following NEET-UG controversy have told the National Testing Agency (NTA), News18 has learnt.
The agency now needs to review and rework the entire mechanism of conducting entrance exams while making exam centres fool proof and increasing both human and technical surveillance.
Multiple committees were formed by the Centre following the recent paper leaks and irregularities in the high-stakes medical entrance exam National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) as well as cancellation of other exams including UGC NET and CSIR UGC NET following intelligence inputs that the integrity of exam may have been compromised.
Recently, these committees in a meeting with the NTA told the latter of the gaps found in their investigations upon multiple inspections of exam and coaching centres across cities in a report, News18 has gathered.
“The NTA was informed that in a common pattern that has been observed, coaching centres are the prime location from where potential candidates as well as paper solvers are scouted. Many of those involved in the leaks either met at coaching centres or were associated with them,” said an official in-the-know.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the NEET-UG paper leak, has so far arrested 36 people, including the alleged masterminds, solvers and those who arranged logistics for the operation.
NEET-UG 2024 was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres across 571 cities in which over 23 lakh students had appeared. The results of the test were announced on June 4, upon which there was an uproar on inflated marks and an unprecedented number of perfect scorers leading to allegations of leaks and irregularities in the conduct of the exam.
How Exam Centre Employees Helped Candidates
The NTA was also told that investigators have found that in most cases exam centre employees helped candidates in changing the exam city or centre at the last minute, it is learnt.
This is even though the NTA has maintained, including in the apex court, that there is no option for candidates to change exam centre while they can only apply for a request for change of exam city as a correction in the application form.
“It has been observed that employees of the exam centre are in direct connivance with the alleged kingpins allowing them access to the strongroom where the trunks having the question papers are kept. They even help them in providing full logistical support to break open the trunk using various tools and get hold of the question papers before the test is slated to start,” said a second official familiar with the matter.
Even as the leaks are being probed and multiple agencies carrying out their own respective investigations in the gaps in the system of conducting exams, another exam centre located in Meerut (UP) was found compromised during the conduct of the CSIR UGC NET exam on July 26. The NTA was informed of the same by the state police’s special task force (STF). The NTA chief along with a team had reached the spot upon receiving the information, News18 had reported.
The UP STF had on July 26 bust a gang of high-tech solvers for their alleged involvement in rigging CSIR-NET paper using Any Desk Remote Access tool, during a surprise raid at Subharti University in UP’s Meerut district. It arrested three TCS employees with mobile phones, having the names of 11 aspirants and their IP addresses. This was the second time that the CSIR UGC NET exam was scheduled, having been cancelled previously based on intelligence inputs. In case of computer-based tests, reportedly the NTA has been informed that the severs of the computer labs that are designated as exam centres are often compromised.
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