A fresh case has been filed in connection with the alleged paper leak in medical entrance exam NEET, by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which has taken charge of the probe following a complaint by the Ministry of Human Resources. The fresh case against unidentified persons alleges fraud and criminal conspiracy. The accused arrested by the states will also be taken into custody, sources said.

The ministry has asked the CBI to inquire into the role of public servants, if any, connected with the holding of the exam and the “larger conspiracy”, sources said.

The CBI takeover of the case comes a day after the government — which initially dismissed the possibility of a paper leak — announced that the probe will be handed over to the central agency.

There were allegations of irregularities, including cheating, impersonation and other malpractices after the results of the NEET-UG 2024 was declared on June 4 — days before schedule.

Student protests have been raging across the country since, amplified by the Opposition, and the matter has snowballed into a huge political row.

The students have been demanding the exam be rescheduled for everyone and not the 1500-odd students who received grace marks.
This, however, has not been accepted by the government and the re-test for 1,563 candidates, who had initially received grace marks, is being held today.

The initial exam was held on May 5, which was taken by 24 lakh students across the country.

When the results were declared, it was found that 67 students scored an unprecedented 720/720 marks. Over 500 students received grace marks. The outcome was unnaturally high cut-off percentage that triggered waves of apprehension among students over finding a berth at any college.

As the protests started and investigation followed, several men were arrested in Bihar, who, the police said, admitted to a leak. One of them, a student taking the exam, said he was given the papers the night before the exam.

The chief of the National Testing Agency or NTA, which conducted the test, has been fired.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati’s nephew Akash Anand is back. His aunt had removed him from a key party post a month ago. Today, he received her blessings as he touched her feet after she appointed him BSP national coordinator and named him her political successor.

Mayawati had benched her nephew while he was campaigning in the recently held Lok Sabha election over his “aggressive” speeches, which led to a police case being filed against him. She had advised him to “become mature”, until which he would remain benched.

In the BSP’s first key meeting on Sunday after the Lok Sabha election, Mayawati put the final stamp on the June 21 decision to allow Mr Anand to campaign for the BSP in the upcoming by-election to an assembly seat in the hill state Uttarakhand.

Mr Anand will also lead the BSP campaign in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election scheduled in 2027.

The BSP, which once ruled UP after a fast, meteoric rise before it disappeared as fast as it had come, did not win a single seat in UP in the national election. She came to power in 2007 in what was seen as a big success of her “social engineering” campaign. The next year, Time magazine had called her “Queen of the Dalits”.

Mr Anand’s comment that the central government was a “government of terrorists” had led to his removal from the BSP’s Lok Sabha election campaign. “This government is a bulldozer government and a government of traitors. The party that leaves its youth hungry and enslaves its elderly is a terrorist government. Taliban runs such a government in Afghanistan,” he had said during an election rally in Sitapur.

The BSP’s post-election meeting today mainly focussed on why the party could not win even a single seat in UP. Mayawati and her party leader discussed how they can improve their chances in the UP assembly election 2027.

Sources said Mr Anand enjoys the support of BSP workers, despite the party’s no-show performance in the Lok Sabha election.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor sparked controversy by mocking the BJP-led government over exam irregularities with a meme on Uttar Pradesh, drawing sharp criticism. Tharoor’s post featured a viral meme defining UP as a state where answers are known before exams. BJP leaders condemned the remark as insulting and demanded an apology, escalating tensions amidst ongoing scrutiny over national exam paper leaks.