2024 NEET paper leak: Accused ex-principal out on bail, ‘re-engaged’ by school

HAZARIBAG: With the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Tuesday cancelling the NEET-UG 2026 owing to alleged paper leak in Rajasthan, Jharkhand’s Hazaribag, which shot to limelight over a similar leak in 2024 is back in focus.Probe against a few accused from Hazaribag is still underway. A few accused, however, obtained bail from Patna high court and slipped back into routine public life, sources said. About 3,300 candidates appeared across nine centres in Hazaribag town for NEET-UG this year. Oasis School, which was at the centre of the paper leak in 2024, wasn’t allotted a centre this time. Former principal Ehsanul Haque, who was among three arrested last year by CBI during its probe, is said to have been allegedly re-engaged by the school management as its “director”, sources claimed. School chairman, Shabbir Ahmad, however didn’t respond to calls for comments on the issue.Even though Haque’s name does not appear on the school’s official website, a teacher of the institution confirmed his return to an administrative role.Sources associated with the investigation said a crucial lead was the recovery of a partially burnt question booklet in Patna — bearing code number 6136488 and allegedly allotted to Oasis School — which brought the CBI to Hazaribag and eventually led investigators to Haque, vice-principal Imtiaz Alam and local journalist Jamaluddin and their arrest.The probe later widened after CBI scrutinised guest registers of several hotels and lodges in Hazaribag.