 "NEET-UG: 48% students skip retest; what happens to their scorecard now?")
According to the National Testing Agency (NTA), out of the 1,563 candidates initially awarded ‘grace marks’ in the NEET-UG 2024, only 813 (52 per cent) took the retest held on Sunday.
According to a Supreme Court directive, the retest was conducted at seven centres. From Chandigarh, neither of the two qualified candidates participated. In Chhattisgarh, 219 of the 602 eligible candidates took part, while in Gujarat, only one candidate appeared. In Haryana, 287 out of 494 candidates participated, and in Meghalaya, 234 of the 464 eligible candidates appeared for the retest.
The NTA initially granted grace marks to over 1,500 candidates to compensate for the time lost due to a delayed start at six centres on May 5. Allegations were made that this led to inflated scores, with six students from the same centre in Haryana achieving perfect scores of 720. Overall, an impressive 67 students across the country scored full marks in the NEET-UG exam.
However, the agency later withdrew these marks, announcing that the committee had decided to invalidate the scorecards of the 1,563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates who had received the grace marks. These students will be allowed to retake the test. On Sunday, only 813 out of 1,563 students appeared for the NEET-UG re-exam.
The students who did not appear for the re-test will have to accept their original scores, minus the grace marks.
NEET-UG 2024 row: Arrests, conspiracy and burnt question paper
The Ministry of Education has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate suspected misconduct involving conspiracy, cheating, impersonation, breach of trust, and evidence destruction by candidates, institutions, and intermediaries. The probe will also examine the potential involvement of public officials.
The CBI has registered an FIR in the 2024 NEET-UG case under sections 20B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating). Furthermore, on Sunday, the governments of Bihar and Gujarat declared their intention to transfer the cases related to the alleged NEET-UG paper leaks from their respective police departments to the CBI.
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On Sunday, five individuals from Nalanda were arrested by the Patna police following their detention in Deoghar, Jharkhand. The arrested individuals include Baldev Kumar, Mukesh Kumar, Panku Kumar, Rajeev Kumar, and Paramjeet Singh.
According to authorities, Baldev Kumar, associated with the infamous Sanjeev Kumar, also known as Lutan Mukhiya gang, allegedly received a PDF file containing the solved answer sheet for the NEET-UG exam on his mobile phone a day before the exam.
Baldev and his group printed the answer sheets for students assembled at a secure location in Ram Krishna Nagar, Patna, on May 4. Previously arrested, Nitish Kumar and Amit Anand escorted the students to the secure venue.
During the investigation in Bihar, the police discovered a partially burnt question paper at a secure location in Patna. Upon examination alongside the National Testing Agency’s official reference paper, authorities verified it as the leak's origin.
[With agency inputs]