Patna: The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar has registered four FIRs in connection with the NEET-2026 paper leak case and arrested 33 accused so far, EOU ADG Amit Kumar Jain said at a news conference at police headquarters (PHQ) here on Monday.“Four FIRs have been registered in Bihar and are being investigated by the EOU. Altogether 33 accused have been arrested so far in the cases,” Jain said.In a recent development, alleged main accused Dr Ujjwal Raj, Dr Ravishankar and his brother Ashwini Kumar were arrested from Giriyak police station area in Nalanda on Aug 11.Ravishankar is a fourth-year MBBS student at Bhagwan Mahavir Institute of Medical Sciences, Pawapuri. During raids at their locations, police recovered admit cards, fake certificates, including disability certificates, bank cheques, passbooks, ID cards, Rs2 lakh in cash, digital devices and other materials.Jain said the EOU was currently conducting in-depth investigations in 44 cases related to irregularities, paper leaks and organised crime in various competitive examinations held in the state. These include NEET, constable recruitment, TRE-3 and home guard recruitment cases, in which a network involving land mafias, doctors and middlemen has allegedly been busted.EOU DIG Manavjeet Singh Dhillon provided details of other recruitment-related fraud cases.He said, “Seven accused have been arrested so far in central constable recruitment-2023 paper leak case. Recently Janmejay Tiwari, a driver constable in the fire department, was arrested for allegedly leaking answer keys to candidates.”On the alleged irregularities in the BPSC AEDO (assistant education development officer) examination held earlier this year, Dhillon said three accused had been arrested, including Raj Samdarshi of the paper-setter gang and Abhishek Kumar and Ritesh Kumar, both biometric supervisors.“A total of 296 accused have been arrested so far in the TRE-3.0 2024 paper leak case,” the DIG added.Jain said the EOU is also set to expand beyond its headquarters with the creation of 12 regional units across the state. Plans are also underway to set up separate Economic Ranges in border districts.He said instructions had been issued to all district SPs (superintendents of police) to nominate one officer of inspector rank in every district as police inspector, EOU. Personnel are also being given specialised training to strengthen action against economic crimes.“New wings have also been created, including an Intellectual Property Crime wing and an Asset Forfeiture & Confiscation Branch to handle copyright and trademark-related cases. So far two-three such cases have come to light and investigations are ongoing,” he said.The EOU is also pursuing cases involving alleged accumulation of huge wealth through crime and corruption. Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), proposals against 10 criminals and corrupt officials involving over Rs108 crore have been sent to the Enforcement Directorate (ED).In total, proposals to seize properties of nearly 250 accused have been sent to the ED under the PMLA. Action has already been taken against a large number of them, while proceedings are underway against the rest, he added.
