NEW DELHI, July 30 (Reuters) – India’s CBI( Central Bureau of Investigation) has filed charges against 13 people in connection with leaked question papers for the national medical college entrance test, days after youth-led protests over the scandal forced the education minister to quit.
About 2 million students had taken the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in May before it was cancelled following allegations of test paper questions being leaked. A re-test was held on June 21.
Those charged include three subject experts from the federal National Testing Agency, several middlemen who sourced and distributed the leaked questions, and two people associated with coaching institutes who obtained them, federal police agency CBI said in a statement late on Wednesday, adding that all of them were detained in custody.
“The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed charge sheet … against 13 arrested accused for offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, destruction of evidence and others,” it said.
The 13 people could not be reached for comment as they are in custody.
Exam question paper leaks are fairly common in India and the NEET questions themselves were similarly leaked in some parts of the country in 2024, although no re-test was ordered at the time.
The weeks-long demonstrations, which were called off after the education minister resigned on Saturday, saw thousands of people converging in the capital, with protests spreading to other cities after a march on parliament was met with tear gas and baton charges.
India’s top court on Wednesday ordered that no coercive action be taken against protesters, directed all under-18s arrested during the protests to be released, and said authorities must preserve surveillance footage, after petitioners alleged police brutality against demonstrators.
The protests have also prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to introduce a bill in parliament to amend the legislation governing public examinations, proposing longer prison terms and heftier fines for violators.
Under the amended law, the 13 people could be punished with prison terms of five to 10 years, and fines of up to 50 million rupees ($522,000).
The protests were Modi’s biggest political challenge in his third term in office that began in 2024.
