Gurgaon: When Rajasthan police arrived at a house in Khurampur village in Farrukhnagar on Monday evening, neighbours watched in disbelief as they took away Yash Yadav, the son of a farmer whose face adorns a banner of the local Oxford Convent School announcing its achievers.Yash is the only one listed under ‘MBBS selection’, a feat no one in the village was surprised by. “He scored 98% in CBSE,” a next-door neighbour told TOI.That “studious” boy has emerged as one of the faces of the paper leak that has led to cancellation of this year’s NEET-UG and thrown lakhs of medical aspirants into uncertainty as they face a re-test.A first-year BAMS student at Manjira Devi Ayurvedic College and Hospital in Uttarkashi, Yash is the youngest of three siblings from Khurampur village. His brother is pursuing hotel management and his sister is studying law at a private university in the city. Neighbours described the family as humble and hardworking — his father Harbir, they said, worked hard to put all three children through education.According to a senior Rajasthan police source, Yash is suspected to have received a ‘guess paper’ — which contained 45 chemistry and 90 biology questions that appeared in the NEET exam held on May 3 — from a person in Nashik. One accused, Shubham Khairnar, was arrested in Nashik but it was not immediately clear if he received the paper from Khairnar or someone else.Sources said the Biwal family in Jaipur — three of whose members were arrested by CBI on Tuesday, within a day of the agency taking over the probe — received the ‘guess paper’ from Yash. Investigators believe Yash sold the paper for Rs 15-20 lakh to Dinesh Biwal and some others in Rajasthan. Biwal, in turn, is suspected to have shared it with others. Yash is believed to have had access to the ‘guess paper’ as early as April 26, a week before NEET-UG was held on May 3.Investigators believe Yash connected with other paper leak suspects during his medical coaching stint in Sikar. They are now tracing his bank transactions to identify others in the chain. The ‘guess paper’ was eventually circulated widely by clients of the key suspects, well beyond the handful of people it was initially meant for.Sources said investigators are also probing whether Yash had any connection to the 2024 NEET paper leak, and whether he was in direct contact with the key suspects at the centre of the racket.Back in Khurampur, Yash was described by those who know him as polite and respectful. Neighbour Kapil Yadav, who watched police take Yash away, said the family was given no reason for his detention. “He belongs to a very humble family. His father did a lot of hard work to educate his three children,” he said, adding Yash was falsely implicated.Mato Ram, 78, a longtime resident of the village, said police should have spoken to locals before making the move. “We have known him since his childhood. He is a decent and sincere boy,” Ram said.“Despite being just neighbours, some of us haven’t been able to eat since his arrest. His mother has fallen sick and his father and brother are in Rajasthan, pleading with the cops to let them meet him,” a woman from the village said.
