Patna: The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) has intensified its investigation into the NEET-UG re-exam fraud after taking over all three FIRs registered in Lakhisarai district. The agency has sought key details from the National Testing Agency (NTA), including the addresses of candidates linked to specific roll numbers, to identify those whose identities were allegedly used by impostors.According to EOU sources, once the addresses are received, the special investigation team (SIT) will issue notices to the candidates concerned for questioning. If they fail to appear, investigators will visit their homes.The NEET re-exam was held at four centres in Lakhisarai on June 21. Acting on inputs about dummy candidates, police raided three centres — K R College, Kendriya Vidyalaya and Hasanpur High School — and arrested 30 people, including 12 medical students and 18 biometric staff members.Police said nine of the medical students allegedly appeared as impostors in place of genuine candidates, while another had arranged a solver. The students are enrolled in medical institutions across Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. The biometric staff members, employed by a company contracted by the NTA, were arrested on charges of colluding with the racket. Two of their associates were also held.The EOU took over the investigation from Lakhisarai Police on June 25. EOU ADG Amit Kumar Jain constituted a 12-member SIT under the supervision of DIG Manavjit Singh Dhillon. The team comprises one SP, five DSPs and five inspectors. The SIT will also question the arrested biometric staff.“The agency has started investigating all the three FIRs registered by the Lakhisarai Police in the NEET case. It is too early to come to any conclusion. Further investigation is underway,” Jain said.Police suspect the racket was masterminded by a fourth-year MBBS student from Muzaffarpur studying at A N Magadh Medical College and Hospital (ANMMCH), Gaya, along with three associates. Investigators believe the group recruited coaching students and MBBS students as solvers and planned to field more than 100 fake candidates in Bihar during the re-examination. Police sources also suspect impostors were used on a large scale in the original NEET examination held on May 3.
