Patna (Bihar) [India], June 21 (ANI): Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha dismissed claims by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sinha against former Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav in connection with the alleged NEET 'paper leak.'
Manoj Jha accused the Deputy CM of making false stories to "save the accused" and demanded to abolish the National Testing Agency which conducts the entrance examinations.
"Dharmendra Pradhan gives a clean chit and later pretends that there are some irregularities. What happened in Gujarat? In Haryana, in a BJP minister's school, 6 children from that centre are on the topper list, so there is an uproar over NEET in the whole country and in such a situation the Union Education Minister should resign, and NTA should be abolished. But what is being discussed? Who booked the guest house in Bihar? Lakhs of children are not a matter of concern," the RJD MP said while speaking to reporters on Thursday.
"You are making false stories to save the accused. I want to say that this whole story was run in which a conspiracy was hatched to defame a government employee. Because the big faces involved in NEET have to be saved. This is a question of the future of 25 lakh children. Do not entangle it in the false story of the guest house," he added.
Seeking a clarification from Tejashwi Yadav, Vijay Sinha earlier on Thursday pointed out an alleged association between the RJD leader's personal secretary and an accused in the alleged paper leak case.
Sinha claimed that Tejashwi's personal secretary, Pritam Kumar called a guest house worker of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to book a room for Sikander Kumar Yadavendu, one of the accused of the NEET question paper "leak." He said that the word "Mantri" was used for the former Deputy CM.
The guesthouse worker Pradip Kumar reacted to the allegations. "Pritam called me and asked me to book a room for Sikander Kumar on May 1 and then again on May 4. I asked for a requisition, on which he said that it would be given by them," Kumar said.
However, the NHAI in a post on X, clarified that it does not have any guest house facility at Patna contradicting the Deputy CM's claims.
"#FactCheck: Some sections of the media have reported that the accused related to the NEET paper leak case stayed at #NHAI guest house in Patna. NHAI clarifies that it does not have any guest house facility in Patna," NHAI said in a post on X.
Patna Police have arrested several people including some candidates who had taken the NEET exam in recent days.
The NEET-UG 2024 exam was conducted on May 5 and its results were declared on June 4, ahead of its scheduled announcement date of June 14. Protests were held alleging irregularities and paper leaks as the results showed that as many as 67 students had topped the exam with a perfect score of 720.
Petitions have been filed in courts by students seeking a re-test. The Supreme Court has allowed a re-test of over 1,500 students who were awarded "grace marks." (ANI)
