A 22-year-old man arrested in connection with an alleged paper leak in National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical college admissions has told the police that his uncle assured him the exam was in the bag and called him back from Kota, where he was preparing for the test.

Anurag Yadav is among the four people arrested in Bihar in the paper leak case that has sparked nationwide protests and put the central government on the backfoot. A total of 24 lakh aspirants had taken NEET exam on May 5 for admission to medical colleges across the country. In the aftermath of the results on June 4, several irregularities emerged, triggered demands for a re-examination.

In his statement to police, Anurag has said he had been preparing for the medical entrance exam at coaching hub Kota. “My uncle Sikandar Yadavendu works as a junior engineer at Danapur municipal council. He told me to come back to Samastipur. He said ‘exam ka setting ho chuka hai‘ (exam is all sorted). I returned to Samastipur and my uncle dropped me at the home of Amit Anand and Nitish Kumar.”

Anurag has said in his statement that Amit Anand and Nitish Kumar handed him some questions and answers, and asked him to memorise them. “The next day, when I went for the exam, I found all the questions I had prepared. After the exam, police suddenly arrested me,” he has said.

Sikandar Yadavendu, Amit Anand and Nitish Kumar have also been arrested.

Sikandar has told police that Amit and Nitish asked for 30-32 lakh rupees per student for the NEET question paper. “I told them I have four students taking the test. Out of greed, I told each student that they need to pay Rs 40 lakh for the question paper,” he has reportedly said.

Multiple irregularities have surfaced in this year’s NEET: as many as 67 students have scored 720/720 and six of them are from the same centre in Haryana. The high-cut off this time has left many students wondering if they would get a medical college seat or not.

The government has told the Supreme Court that the high marks are a result of grace marking in some centres due to loss of time. The Centre and the NTA added that they had now cancelled the grace marks awarded to 1,563 candidates. Amid reports of irregularities, a section of examinees are demanding a retest.

After watching the man doing this action, the natives left no stone unturned to rescue him.

Amid the massive row surrounding the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, NDTV has accessed scorecards of four Bihar students who allegedly accessed the question paper before the exam. Two of these scorecards tell quite a story.

Anurag Yadav, who is among the four people arrested in the alleged paper leak case, has told the police that he was prepping for the medical entrance test in coaching hub Kota when his uncle Sikandar — also arrested — asked him to return to Samastipur and assured that the exam is “sorted”. He has said that he received some questions and their answers the night before the exam. These questions featured in the actual paper the next day, he has said.

Anurag’s scorecard issued by the National Testing Agency shows that he has scored 185 marks out of 720. His total percentile score is 54.84 (rounded off). But a look at his scores in individual subjects throws up a bizarre mismatch of numbers. Anurag scored 85.8 percentile in Physics and 51 percentile in Biology. But his chemistry is as low as 5 percentile. With the 22-year-old admitting that he got the questions a day before the exam, these scores suggest that he did not get enough time to memorise the chemistry answers.

Anurag’s all-India rank is mentioned as 10,51,525 and his category rank as an OBC candidate is 4,67,824.

Sikandar Yadavendu has told the police that he got four students in touch with Amit Anand and Nitish Kumar — also arrested — for the question papers. Amit and Nitish, he has said, asked for Rs 30-32 lakh rupees per student. “I told them I have four students taking the test. Out of greed, I told each student that they need to pay Rs 40 lakh for the question paper,” he has reportedly told police.

While Anurag has been arrested, the other three have been questioned. All three of them are from the OBC category. One of them has scored 300 out of 720 in the test and the percentile is 73.37 (rounded-off). But again, the individual scores raise questions. The student got 87.8 percentile in Biology, but 15.5 and 15.3 percentiles in Physics and Chemistry.

The scorecards of the other two students, however, indicate a decent show across all three subjects. One of them has scored 581 out of 720 and the other 483.

Ever since the results of the all-India exam for admission to MBBS, BDS and AYUSH courses were declared on June 4, multiple irregularities have surfaced. As many as 67 students have scored 720/720 and six of them are from the same centre in Haryana. The high-cut off this time has left many students wondering if they would get a medical college seat or not. Nationwide protests have broken out as aspirants demand a retest.