The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed its third charge sheet in connection with the alleged leak of the NEET-UG exam paper, officials said on Saturday.

The charge sheet, submitted to a special CBI court in Patna, names 21 accused individuals. The CBI claims that trunks containing NEET-UG 2024 question papers were delivered to Oasis School in Hazaribagh and stored in a control room on the morning of May 5.

According to the CBI, Principal Ahsanul Haque and Vice Principal Imtiaz Alam allowed Pankaj Kumar, the alleged mastermind, to access the control room where the papers were stored. Both Haque and Alam have already been charged.

Kumar, a 2017 civil engineering graduate from the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, reportedly used specialized tools to unlock the trunks and access the exam papers. The CBI has confiscated these tools, along with CCTV footage from the room.

On the morning of the exam, seven MBBS students from AIIMS Patna, RIMS Ranchi, and a medical college in Bharatpur allegedly solved the paper in Hazaribagh. The CBI has since arrested these students.

The solved papers were then sold to select students who paid for access. Most of the solvers have been identified and apprehended, with the CBI stating that they were part of a premeditated conspiracy.

The investigation has also led to several other arrests, as members of the gang involved in accommodating candidates and arranging their transportation have been identified. Efforts are ongoing to trace the candidates who received the solved papers, and further actions are being taken, the CBI said in a statement.

Also read: NEET-UG 2024: Deep rot symptom