A day after Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sinha claimed that prime accused of NEET UG paper leak case Sikander Yadavendu is a relative of RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s assistant Pritam Yadav, the party on Friday shared an old picture of Dy CM Samrat Chaudhary with another accused Amit Anand. During a press conference in Patna, Sinha said that the officer was in frequent contact with Sikander Prasad Yadvendu, the arrested prime accused in the case.
RJD Hits Back At BJP
Reacting to Sinha’s allegations, the RJD termed it a “bundle of lies” and said the BJP leader was only trying to divert the attention of 25 lakh NEET aspirants from their main demand of cancellation of the exam held on May 5. In a X post, the party alleged that the accused was fecilitating the minister amd he Chaudhary has deleted all pictures of him from his X account.
“The main accused in the NEET exam paper leak scam with the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar. The so called powerful minister who was felicitated by the accused has deleted all his photos with her from his social media handles but don’t worry we have them all. Send this to your worried counterpart the other deputy CM,” RJD said in its X post.
नीट परीक्षा पेपर लीक घोटाले का मुख्य आरोपी बिहार के उपमुख्यमंत्री के साथ।
आरोपी के हाथों सम्मानित होने वाले तथाकथित ताकतवर मंत्री ने अपने सोशल मीडिया हैंडल से उसके साथ अपनी सारी तस्वीरें डिलीट कर दी लेकिन चिंता की कोई बात नहीं हमारे पास सभी है। आपके व्याकुल समकक्ष दूसरे… pic.twitter.com/R6brf91Br3
— Rashtriya Janata Dal (@RJDforIndia) June 21, 2024
Tejashwi Yadav Slams BJP
Spaking to reporters, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said, “The INDIA alliance is united on this issue. We want the NEET exam to be immediately cancelled…The (BJP) have all the investigation agencies, they can call the PS or PA anyone for probe…They want to divert the issue from the kingpin…Those who want to drag my name or my PA’s name, this will not benefit anyone…The engineer who is talked about could be a beneficiary but Amit Anand and Nitish Kumar are the masterminds of the paper leak. The people of the country know that whenever BJP comes to power, then paper leaks happen.”
Bihar Dy CM Vijay Sinha’s Allegations
Sinha on Thursday also claimed Yadavendu’s ties to RJD leader Lalu Yadav. Sinha had alleged Mr Yadavendu was sleeping at a guesthouse run by the NHAI, or National Highways Authority of India, which reports to the Centre’s Road Transport Ministry.
“The official linked with Yadav used to arrange for Sikandar to stay at guest houses in Patna and other areas. I have copies of the mails that the official sent to the people in charge of arranging Sikandar’s accommodation,” the deputy chief minister stated.
Sinha stated that he had the mobile number from which the texts were sent. He stated, “It needs to be thoroughly investigated. Why is the RJD leader (Tejashwi Prasad) remaining silent on this? The accused was also associated with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad while he was in judicial detention in Ranchi, according to the Deputy Chief Minister.
Who Is Amit Anand?
Yadvendu’s confessional statement, recorded on May 5 under Section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), also disclosed his interactions with Nitish Kumar and Amit Anand, who are accused of leaking test papers such as NEET.
Yadvendu stated that he asked Rs 40 lakh from each aspirant, including his nephew Anurag Yadav, for delivering the leaked question paper on May 4, one day before the exam. According to Yadvendu, a junior engineer at Bihar’s Danapur Town Council, “I contacted Nitish and Amit and told them that I have four candidates—Ayush Kumar, Anurag Yadav, Abhishek Kumar, and Shivnandan Kumar.”
Yadvendu stated that Nitish and Amit charged Rs 32 lakh each applicant and assured him that the question paper will be sent in advance.
On May 4, all four candidates were summoned to a guest house, where Nitish and Anand “prepare” them using the leaked paper, according to Yadvendu. The candidates eventually admitted that the same questions appeared on the official exam on May 5.