New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested two persons from Bihar’s Patna in connection with the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG exam.

A senior official with the CBI confirmed the arrest of two persons identified as Manish Prakash and Ashutosh. The arrested individuals were found to be operating from Patna.

He said that while the accused, Ashutosh, was arranging safe house premises for the students, the other accused, Manish, used to take the candidates to a school to ‘prepare’ them for the exam.

“Manish Prakash transported the students in his car. While the students were accommodated in Ashutosh’s house,” the CBI officer pointed out.

These are the first arrests made by the CBI in the NEET paper leak case. Both accused were produced in court, he said.

On Monday, the CBI took over the NEET (UG) paper leak case reported in Patna (Bihar), another cheating case in Godhra (Gujarat), and three alleged impersonations in the examination in Rajasthan.

Earlier in the day, referring to the irregularities in the NEET-UG examination, President Droupadi Murmu said that the government is committed to a fair investigation of the recent incidents of paper leaks as well as stringent punishment for the guilty.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducted the NEET-UG examination, is facing criticism over alleged irregularities. This prompted a series of protests across the country, with demonstrators and political parties demanding to disband the NTA.

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from the National Testing Agency (NTA) on the petition that claimed “inconsistent” calculation of marks on the OMR sheets used for the NEET-UG 2024 exam.

A vacation bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti issued a notice and sought the NTA’s response by July 8, the date of the next hearing.

Several petitions were filed in the apex court seeking direction to recall NEET-UG 2024 results and to conduct the examination afresh, alleging paper leakage and malpractices in the test held on May 5.

The apex court had already refused to stay the counseling of NEET-UG, 2024.

The NEET-UG examination, conducted by the NTA, is the pathway for admissions into MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.