No Question Paper Leak In Patna, Sawai Madhopur: Exam Body NTA Tells Supreme Court In NEET-UG Case

Amid row over the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the National Testing Agency (NTA) has told the Supreme Court that no question paper was found to be missing and no locks were broken in Patna.

The allegations of a paper leak in the all-India entrance exam for medical education aspirants first emerged from the Bihar capital.

The CBI, which is investigating alleged irregularities in the exam, has arrested eight people in the Bihar case.

In an affidavit, the NTA told the Supreme Court that reports of the City coordinator, Centre Superintendent(s) and observers concerned were examined.

"No question paper was found missing in any Trunk. Each question paper has a unique serial number and was assigned to a particular candidate. No locks were found broken. The reports from NTA Observers did not report anything adverse. The CCTV coverage in the Command Centre were constantly monitored. No untoward incident or any pointer to paper leakage was observed," it said, NDTV reported.

The testing agency has also responded to the alleged paper leak in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur.

"NTA came to know from social media on the day of exam itself around 4:30 PM that an incident has occurred at one Exam Centre in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan, where a wrong medium of Question Paper was distributed, and some candidates protested and left the centre without giving the exam along with the question paper," it said.

"Thereafter, a picture of the question paper was circulated on the social media alleging be a paper leak. In fact, there could not be leak caused by such an incident and the same was clarified immediately," the NTA has said.

"It is further clarified that the access to the centres was regulated and no Internet and mobile connectivity was possible during the actual conduct of the examination due to installation of jammers and control over usage of electronic devices thereby eliminating all scope of any adverse impact of such an incident," it said, adding that the retest at the centre was conducted smoothly the same day.

The NTA's response comes after the Centre told the Supreme Court that there was no evidence of "mass malpractice" or localised benefits to any group of candidates.

Data analytics conducted by IIT Madras on NEET-UG 2024 results revealed a normal bell-shaped distribution, suggesting no anomalies or irregularities.

It said the data analytics of results of NEET-UG 2024 was conducted by IIT Madras and as per the findings given by the experts, the marks distribution follows the bell-shaped curve that is witnessed in any large-scale examination indicating no abnormality.

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