Patna: Two MBBS final-year students have been arrested in connection with irregularities in the NEET-UG and re-NEET UG exams conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) in 2026, the EOU of Bihar police said on Thursday. One of the accused, Ujjwal Raj, a resident of Motihari in East Champaran district, was arrested outside an exam centre at Aryabhatta Knowledge University (AKU) in Patna on Aug 11. He had gone there to appear for his MBBS third-year supplementary exam. He is an MBBS final-year student at Mahavir Institute of Medical Sciences, Pawapuri, Nalanda.Another accused, Ravishankar alias Samrat, a resident of Shahjahanpur, Patna, was arrested outside the AKU exam centre on Aug 12. He is also an MBBS final-year student at Mahavir Institute of Medical Sciences and is allegedly the kingpin of the Lakhisarai re-NEET racket, EOU officials said.The EOU investigation has revealed a well-organised gang that allegedly used biometric manipulation and fake documents to arrange “solvers” to appear for candidates in exchange for Rs 12-30 lakh per student.Four cases were registered over irregularities in the NEET-UG and re-NEET-UG exams held on May 3 and June 21, respectively. One was registered at Giriyak police station in Nalanda over the May 3 exam, while three were registered at Kawaiya police station in Lakhisarai over the June 21 re-exam.EOU DIG Manavjit Singh Dhillon said, “The EOU has taken over the investigation of all 4 cases due to their seriousness. Initial investigation was done by Nalanda and Lakhisarai district police. Later, an SIT under the supervision of EOU ADG and led by SP, EOU was formed for further probe.”Ujjwal is also an accused in a case at Kodha police station in Katihar for allegedly arranging around seven fake solvers in NEET UG-2024 at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. He is out on anticipatory bail from Patna High Court and was also questioned by CBI in 2024 over solver fraud in a case registered at Madhubani police station in Purnia. An SUV and Rs 2,95,000 in cash allegedly collected for arranging fake solvers were seized from him. Three accused have already been arrested by Nalanda police.“Ravishankar alias Samrat is also an accused in a Railway Group-D recruitment exam fraud case in Nihalganj, Deeg, Rajasthan. He is currently out on bail,” Dhillon said.According to EOU, Ravishankar passed Class 12 in 2012 and cracked NEET in 2022, 10 years later. Since then, he has allegedly been running a racket to help candidates clear NEET and other competitive exams through fraud, charging Rs 12-30 lakh per candidate.Dhillon said the gang would “set” the original candidate and solver during enrolment. With the help of authorised UIDAI Aadhaar agents and common service centre operators, they allegedly replaced the original candidate’s biometrics with those of the solver and mixed their photographs to bypass verification.“The gang also prepared fake income, disability and caste certificates to get successful candidates admitted to medical colleges through counselling. Ravishankar’s wife, Madhu Priya, an OBC candidate, had a fake SC caste certificate made from Sairpur Block office, Patna. She is also accused of using a solver in Re-NEET. Her arrest is stayed by court due to pregnancy,” the DIG said.Raids were conducted at Ravishankar’s brother Ashwani Kumar’s residence in Sandhya Height Apartment and a rented flat in Sunaina Apartment, Jakirpur, Ramakrishna Nagar, Patna. EOU said Ravishankar had invested in an online exam centre anticipating future NEET exams being conducted in CBT mode.The investigation has also revealed the involvement of students from medical, nursing and dental colleges in Bihar, biometric manpower suppliers and vendors from Lakhisarai, Hajipur, Nawada and Nalanda, and people involved in making fake Aadhaar and other documents. Notices are being sent to persons whose admit cards, caste certificates, disability certificates and blank cheques were seized for questioning.
