The Evening Wrap: CBI arrests man who stole NEET-UG question paper

The CBI on July 16 arrested two more accused, Pankaj Kumar and Raju Singh, from Patna and Hazaribagh respectively in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) - NEET-UG 2024 paper leak case. CBI sources said that key accused Pankaj Kumar is a resident of Jharkhand’s Bokaro and he has been arrested in Patna on the charge of stealing the NEET (UG) paper from the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) trunk in Hazaribagh. The second accused Raju Singh has been arrested from Hazaribagh for helping Pankaj Kumar. Sources said that Singh was arrested from a guesthouse in Hazaribag located in Ramnagar locality under Katkamdag police station. Singh was the fourth person arrested from Hazaribagh in the paper leak case. Earlier, the federal agency has arrested Hazaribagh’s Oasis School principal Ahsanul Haque, vice-principal Imtiaz Alam and a local Hindi newspaper journalist Jamaludin. Hazaribagh has become one of the suspected places where CBI spent several days before it arrested the three accused in the case. The central agency is investigating the link of the question paper leak and has collected important evidence from the school premises. Later, two teachers of the school were also summoned to Patna, however they were later released after interrogation. During the investigation, the employees of Blue Dart Courier were also questioned apart from an e-rickshaw driver who had delivered the question paper from the courier office to SBI branch in Hazaribagh. The CBI team had also questioned the office bearers of the SBI bank as the question papers were kept over there. Since May 5, 2024 CBI is investigating the case after the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) has handed over the case in which the total number of people arrested is 14. Pankaj Kumar is a civil engineer who allegedly stole the NEET paper. Last Thursday, CBI made a major breakthrough in the case by arresting one of the key accused in the case, Rakesh Rajan alias Rocky, a resident of Nalanda district in Bihar. Rocky was produced before the Special CBI court after which the Court had granted 10 days remand to CBI for questioning. Rocky has arranged the solvers to solve the NEET paper after the leak and he is also one of the trusted gang members of Sanjeev Mukhiya, who is believed to be the king-pin in the case. Rocky is also a relative of Mr. Mukhiya. Rocky has arranged MBBS students from Patna and Ranchi to solve the NEET question paper. Before arresting Rocky, a CBI team had raided his house in Gajendra Bigha village in Nalanda on June 30, 2024. Last Friday, the Patna High Court also granted custody of 13 persons, who were previously arrested by Patna Police to the CBI. Controversial IAS probationer Puja Khedkar recalled to Mussoorie academy Controversial IAS probationer Puja Khedkar, under the scanner for abuse of power and privileges, has been “immediately recalled” to the Mussoorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration with her current training in Maharashtra’s Washim district put on hold. A statement issued by the Maharashtra government’s General Administration Department on July 16 said Khedkar was relieved from the District Training Programme of the Government of Maharashtra and had been instructed to “join the academy at the earliest but not later than July 23 under any circumstances.” Khedkar shot to infamy after revelations concerning her abuse of power (seeking perks not allotted to trainee IAS officers) and faking disability and her OBC certificate came to light, which made her to be transferred to Washim as a supernumerary assistant collector from Pune, where she was originally posted. After disclosures of Khedkar installing a beacon on her private luxury sedan and illegally putting a Government of Maharashtra sticker on her car came to light, skeletons began tumbling from the cupboard of the Khedkar family itself with revelations emerging of the misdemeanours committed by her parents — Manorama and Dilip Khedkar. A letter by Additional Chief secretary of Maharashtra, Nitin Gadre said the academy has decided to put Khedkar’s district training on hold. The Pune police have registered a first information report (FIR) against Khedkar’s parents after a 2023 video clip showing Manorama Khedkar allegedly threatening a farmer with a gun over a land dispute surfaced in the wake of the controversy surrounding Puja. Even as the Khedkars decried the affair as a “media trial”, officials are probing the authenticity of the various certificates furnished by Puja before the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Khedkar had earlier submitted two certificates provided by the Ahmednagar District Civil Hospital in 2018 and 2021, to the UPSC under the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) category. While being sent by the UPSC for a medical check-up at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences, she skipped as many as six appointments between April and August 2022. It has also emerged that she had applied for a disability certificate from Pune’s Aundh government hospital in August 2022 but that her application was rejected. BMW hit-and-run case: Main accused Mihir Shah gets 14-day judicial custody A court in Mumbai on July 16 remanded Mihir Shah, the prime accused in the BMW hit-and-run case, in 14-day judicial custody. Shah, 24, was arrested on July 9, two days after he allegedly rammed his BMW car into a two-wheeler, killing a woman, identified as Kaveri Nakhwa (45), and leaving her husband, Pradeep, injured in Mumbai’s Worli area. The main accused in the case was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Sewri court) S P Bhosale at the end of his remand on July 16. Police sought extension of his custody saying the accused has not given information about the persons who harboured him while he was on the run. He has still not given information about the missing number plate, the police, represented by public prosecutors Ravindra Patil and Bharti Bhosle, submitted in the court. The probe is underway and considering the gravity of the offence, the custody should be extended, the prosecution said. Advocates Ayush Pasbola and Shudir Bhardwaj, appearing for Shah, opposed the remand saying the police have recovered whatever they needed to seize from the accused. The police have recorded the statements of 27 witnesses and enough time had been given to the investigators to find out who all the accused contacted while he absconded, the defence said. After hearing both sides, the court remanded the accused in judicial custody. Mihir, the son of the ruling Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Shah, had fled after the fatal crash. According to the police, Rajesh Shah took an active part in ensuring his son’s escape and also had plans to tow away the offending vehicle. Rajesh Shah, also an accused in the case, has been granted bail. Their driver, Rajrishi Bidawat, who was sitting in the car and allegedly swapped driver’s seat with Mihir, is also in judicial custody. Calcutta High Court restrains Mamata Banerjee from making ‘defamatory statements’ against Governor Ananda Bose The Calcutta High Court on July 16 restrained West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and three others from making any “defamatory or incorrect statement” against Governor C. V. Ananda Bose. In an interim order, Justice Krishna Rao said the matter will be heard again on August 14. Bose welcomed the order saying that he would pray to the almighty to throw light on Banerjee’s path. “Truth will triumph. I pray to God to throw light on the path of Mamata Banerjee. This is a God-sent for me. I would like to dedicate myself to the service of the people of Bengal,” he said. Bose had filed a defamation suit against Banerjee, newly-elected Trinamool MLAs Sayantika Banerjee and Reyat Hossain Sarkar and party leader Kunal Ghosh. Speaking on the imbroglio over oath-taking of the MLAs, Mamata Banerjee had made certain comments, over which the Governor moved the defamation suit before the High Court. He also prayed for an interim order restraining them from making any further comment in connection with alleged incidents at Raj Bhavan. Justice Krishna Rao restrained Banerjee and the three others from “making any defamatory or incorrect statement against the plaintiff (Bose) by way of publication and on social platforms till August 14, 2024”. The court directed Mamata Banerjee and the three others to file their affidavit in opposition within two weeks and reply by Bose to these within one week thereafter. Justice Rao directed that the matter will be taken up for hearing on August 14 again. Mamata Banerjee’s lawyer Sanjay Basu said in a statement that the order of the court will be challenged before a higher bench. Government convenes all-party meeting ahead of Monsoon Session; TMC to skip Ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament which begins on July 22, the Union government has called for an all-party meeting ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, to be held at 11 a.m. on July 21. The Trinamool Congress will skip the meeting, saying that July 21 is observed as Martyrs Day in Bengal in honour of 13 colleagues who were “unlawfully killed in a police firing on the same day in 1993”. This will be the first such meeting to be attended by newly-appointed Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. The all-party meeting comes ahead of the presentation of the first Union Budget to be presented to the 18th Lok Sabha. The Opposition is expected to present its wishlist at the meeting, as will the Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party, the BJP’s key allies in the ruling NDA. The TMC conveyed its inability to attend the meeting in a letter to from its Rajya Sabha Parliamentary leader Derek O’Brien to Rijiju. “For 30 years now, July 21 has been observed as Martyrs Day in Bengal in honour of our 13 colleagues who were unlawfully killed in a police firing on the same day in 1993,” O’Brien said, adding that all TMC MPs would be in West Bengal on the day and would not be able to attend the meeting. In Brief: Supreme Court directs substitution of former HC judge in inquiry commission on power purchase by KCR Government The Supreme Court on July 16 directed the Telangana Government to substitute retired Patna High Court Chief Justice L. Narasimha Reddy as the one-man Commission of Inquiry (CoI) examining alleged irregularities in the power sector during the tenure of former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. A Bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud passed the direction after Justice Reddy decided not to continue as the CoI and bowed out. Kanchanjunga train crash: probe fixes responsibility at multiple levels The Commissioner of Railway Safety has said the Kanchanjunga Express accident involving a goods train was “waiting to happen” due to lapses at multiple levels in managing train operations in automatic signal zones, and “inadequate counselling” of loco pilots and station masters. In its probe report into the June 17 accident in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district that left 10 persons dead, including the loco pilot of the goods train, the Commissioner of Railway Safety also recommended implementation of the Automatic Train-protection system on top priority. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 16 July 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( NEET-UG paper leak: Accused who stole question paper from NTA trunk among 2 arrested by CBI The [CBI on July 16 arrested two more accused]( Pankaj Kumar and Raju Singh, from Patna and Hazaribagh respectively in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) - NEET-UG 2024 paper leak case. CBI sources said that key accused Pankaj Kumar is a resident of Jharkhand’s Bokaro and he has been arrested in Patna on the charge of stealing the NEET (UG) paper from the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) trunk in Hazaribagh. The second accused Raju Singh has been arrested from Hazaribagh for helping Pankaj Kumar. Sources said that Singh was arrested from a guesthouse in Hazaribag located in Ramnagar locality under Katkamdag police station. Singh was the fourth person arrested from Hazaribagh in the paper leak case. Earlier, the federal agency has arrested Hazaribagh’s Oasis School principal Ahsanul Haque, vice-principal Imtiaz Alam and a local Hindi newspaper journalist Jamaludin. Hazaribagh has become one of the suspected places where CBI spent several days before it arrested the three accused in the case. The central agency is investigating the link of the question paper leak and has collected important evidence from the school premises. Later, two teachers of the school were also summoned to Patna, however they were later released after interrogation. During the investigation, the employees of Blue Dart Courier were also questioned apart from an e-rickshaw driver who had delivered the question paper from the courier office to SBI branch in Hazaribagh. The CBI team had also questioned the office bearers of the SBI bank as the question papers were kept over there. Since May 5, 2024 CBI is investigating the case after the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) has handed over the case in which the total number of people arrested is 14. Pankaj Kumar is a civil engineer who allegedly stole the NEET paper. Last Thursday, CBI made a major breakthrough in the case by arresting one of the key accused in the case, Rakesh Rajan alias Rocky, a resident of Nalanda district in Bihar. Rocky was produced before the Special CBI court after which the Court had granted 10 days remand to CBI for questioning. Rocky has arranged the solvers to solve the NEET paper after the leak and he is also one of the trusted gang members of Sanjeev Mukhiya, who is believed to be the king-pin in the case. Rocky is also a relative of Mr. Mukhiya. Rocky has arranged MBBS students from Patna and Ranchi to solve the NEET question paper. Before arresting Rocky, a CBI team had raided his house in Gajendra Bigha village in Nalanda on June 30, 2024. Last Friday, the Patna High Court also granted custody of 13 persons, who were previously arrested by Patna Police to the CBI. Controversial IAS probationer Puja Khedkar recalled to Mussoorie academy Controversial IAS probationer Puja Khedkar, under the scanner for abuse of power and privileges, has been [“immediately recalled” to the Mussoorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration]( with her current training in Maharashtra’s Washim district put on hold. A statement issued by the Maharashtra government’s General Administration Department on July 16 said Khedkar was relieved from the District Training Programme of the Government of Maharashtra and had been instructed to “join the academy at the earliest but not later than July 23 under any circumstances.” Khedkar shot to infamy after revelations concerning her abuse of power (seeking perks not allotted to trainee IAS officers) and faking disability and her OBC certificate came to light, which made her to be transferred to Washim as a supernumerary assistant collector from Pune, where she was originally posted. After disclosures of Khedkar installing a beacon on her private luxury sedan and illegally putting a Government of Maharashtra sticker on her car came to light, skeletons began tumbling from the cupboard of the Khedkar family itself with revelations emerging of the misdemeanours committed by her parents — Manorama and Dilip Khedkar. A letter by Additional Chief secretary of Maharashtra, Nitin Gadre said the academy has decided to put Khedkar’s district training on hold. The Pune police have registered a first information report (FIR) against Khedkar’s parents after a 2023 video clip showing Manorama Khedkar allegedly threatening a farmer with a gun over a land dispute surfaced in the wake of the controversy surrounding Puja. Even as the Khedkars decried the affair as a “media trial”, officials are probing the authenticity of the various certificates furnished by Puja before the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Khedkar had earlier submitted two certificates provided by the Ahmednagar District Civil Hospital in 2018 and 2021, to the UPSC under the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) category. While being sent by the UPSC for a medical check-up at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences, she skipped as many as six appointments between April and August 2022. It has also emerged that she had applied for a disability certificate from Pune’s Aundh government hospital in August 2022 but that her application was rejected. BMW hit-and-run case: Main accused Mihir Shah gets 14-day judicial custody A [court in Mumbai on July 16 remanded Mihir Shah]( the prime accused in the BMW hit-and-run case, in 14-day judicial custody. Shah, 24, was arrested on July 9, two days after he allegedly rammed his BMW car into a two-wheeler, killing a woman, identified as Kaveri Nakhwa (45), and leaving her husband, Pradeep, injured in Mumbai’s Worli area. The main accused in the case was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Sewri court) S P Bhosale at the end of his remand on July 16. Police sought extension of his custody saying the accused has not given information about the persons who harboured him while he was on the run. He has still not given information about the missing number plate, the police, represented by public prosecutors Ravindra Patil and Bharti Bhosle, submitted in the court. The probe is underway and considering the gravity of the offence, the custody should be extended, the prosecution said. Advocates Ayush Pasbola and Shudir Bhardwaj, appearing for Shah, opposed the remand saying the police have recovered whatever they needed to seize from the accused. The police have recorded the statements of 27 witnesses and enough time had been given to the investigators to find out who all the accused contacted while he absconded, the defence said. After hearing both sides, the court remanded the accused in judicial custody. Mihir, the son of the ruling Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Shah, had fled after the fatal crash. According to the police, Rajesh Shah took an active part in ensuring his son’s escape and also had plans to tow away the offending vehicle. Rajesh Shah, also an accused in the case, has been granted bail. Their driver, Rajrishi Bidawat, who was sitting in the car and allegedly swapped driver’s seat with Mihir, is also in judicial custody. Calcutta High Court restrains Mamata Banerjee from making ‘defamatory statements’ against Governor Ananda Bose The [Calcutta High Court on July 16 restrained West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and three others]( from making any “defamatory or incorrect statement” against Governor C. V. Ananda Bose. In an interim order, Justice Krishna Rao said the matter will be heard again on August 14. Bose welcomed the order saying that he would pray to the almighty to throw light on Banerjee’s path. “Truth will triumph. I pray to God to throw light on the path of Mamata Banerjee. This is a God-sent for me. I would like to dedicate myself to the service of the people of Bengal,” he said. Bose had filed a defamation suit against Banerjee, newly-elected Trinamool MLAs Sayantika Banerjee and Reyat Hossain Sarkar and party leader Kunal Ghosh. Speaking on the imbroglio over oath-taking of the MLAs, Mamata Banerjee had made certain comments, over which the Governor moved the defamation suit before the High Court. He also prayed for an interim order restraining them from making any further comment in connection with alleged incidents at Raj Bhavan. Justice Krishna Rao restrained Banerjee and the three others from “making any defamatory or incorrect statement against the plaintiff (Bose) by way of publication and on social platforms till August 14, 2024”. The court directed Mamata Banerjee and the three others to file their affidavit in opposition within two weeks and reply by Bose to these within one week thereafter. Justice Rao directed that the matter will be taken up for hearing on August 14 again. Mamata Banerjee’s lawyer Sanjay Basu said in a statement that the order of the court will be challenged before a higher bench. Government convenes all-party meeting ahead of Monsoon Session; TMC to skip Ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament which begins on July 22, the [Union government has called for an all-party meeting]( ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, to be held at 11 a.m. on July 21. The Trinamool Congress will skip the meeting, saying that July 21 is observed as Martyrs Day in Bengal in honour of 13 colleagues who were “unlawfully killed in a police firing on the same day in 1993”. This will be the first such meeting to be attended by newly-appointed Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. The all-party meeting comes ahead of the presentation of the first Union Budget to be presented to the 18th Lok Sabha. The Opposition is expected to present its wishlist at the meeting, as will the Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party, the BJP’s key allies in the ruling NDA. The TMC conveyed its inability to attend the meeting in a letter to from its Rajya Sabha Parliamentary leader Derek O’Brien to Rijiju. “For 30 years now, July 21 has been observed as Martyrs Day in Bengal in honour of our 13 colleagues who were unlawfully killed in a police firing on the same day in 1993,” O’Brien said, adding that all TMC MPs would be in West Bengal on the day and would not be able to attend the meeting. In Brief: Supreme Court directs substitution of former HC judge in inquiry commission on power purchase by KCR Government The [Supreme Court on July 16 directed the Telangana Government]( to substitute retired Patna High Court Chief Justice L. Narasimha Reddy as the one-man Commission of Inquiry (CoI) examining alleged irregularities in the power sector during the tenure of former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. A Bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud passed the direction after Justice Reddy decided not to continue as the CoI and bowed out. Kanchanjunga train crash: probe fixes responsibility at multiple levels The Commissioner of Railway Safety has said the Kanchanjunga Express accident involving a goods train was “waiting to happen” [due to lapses at multiple levels]( managing train operations in automatic signal zones, and “inadequate counselling” of loco pilots and station masters. In its probe report into the June 17 accident in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district that left 10 persons dead, including the loco pilot of the goods train, the Commissioner of Railway Safety also recommended implementation of the Automatic Train-protection system on top priority. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Today’s Top Picks [[Tim Walker on his book commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy | The Hindu On Books podcast] Tim Walker on his book commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy | The Hindu On Books podcast]( [[OnePlus Watch 2R and Nord Buds 3 Pro launched: Specs, price, availability] OnePlus Watch 2R and Nord Buds 3 Pro launched: Specs, price, availability]( [[Which topics are India’s researchers publishing papers on?] Which topics are India’s researchers publishing papers on?]( [[How India's Byju's went from startup star to facing insolvency] How India's Byju's went from startup star to facing insolvency]( Copyright© 2024, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [click here]( Manage your newsletter subscription preferences [here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](