As the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) continues to arrest the minds behind the NEET-UG paper leak scam that led to the cancellation of the May 3 exam, the man who first alerted the authorities about it on Sunday explained how he did so, and what it led to.
The whistleblower, now identified as Chemistry teacher Shashikant Suthar from Rajasthan's Sikar, explained that he had found out about the scam by nightfall on May 3—hours after the NEET exam was conducted.
Despite the local police telling him to return the next day with proper evidence, Suthar did not rest that night, and instead gathered evidence and sent it to top officials at the National Testing Agency (NTA).
He described to News18 how the evidence was so strong that the NTA couldn't ignore it, and that he began receiving calls from investigating officers "within two hours" of his major revelation.
"Following this, the NTA and other vigilance teams significantly accelerated their investigations and actions in various parts of the country," he said.
The controversy, first probed by a Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Rajasthan Police, was later handed over to the CBI, which led to nine arrests so far.
A number of people accused in the scam, such as retired Chemistry professor P.V. Kulkarni and Botany lecturer Manisha Mandhare, were also revealed to be NTA insiders.
In that regard, the entire NTA is now under the CBI's lens, with more insider arrests expected as the investigation continues.
Suthar also defended Sikar's hardworking "megawatt" students, saying that they should not get a bad name just because of the actions of a few.
He added that his fight was against malpractices in such exams to protect the honest students from their future being robbed, and not to target or defame any particular coaching institute or student.