Technical assistant, suspected kingpin: The man at the centre of NEET-UG paper leak probe

For the faculty of the College of Horticulture, Noorsarai in Bihar’s Nalanda district, 51-year-old Sanjeev Kumar was just one of the many, if a little errant, technical assistants employed with the college. Outside of work, the rest of the staff knew little about him, except that he often took unsanctioned leave, and then submitted medical certificates later.

On May 5, a day when 2.4 million students sat for the NEET-UG competitive examinations, Kumar played truant again. Calls to his phone went unanswered, and nine days later, college superintendent Pranay Kumar Pankaj sent him a show-cause notice.

A reply arrived on May 20—a medical certificate ostensibly from the Patna Medical College and Hospital which claimed that Kumar had a severe issue with his spinal cord and needed a month’s leave. “The letter did not say what type of leave he wanted, and it was vague. So we neither approved or denied the request. We decided we would deal with him when he returned,” Pankaj said.

Then, sometime last week, Pankaj and the rest of the college was stunned. Across their television screens were photographs of Sanjeev Kumar—a man the police now believe is the mastermind behind the alleged leak of the NEET-UG examination in Bihar, and the lynchpin of a gang that indulged in this fraud with regularity. His role, senior Bihar police officials have said has been traced to a leak of the 2023 Bihar constable examination, and he was in jail for four months in another paper leak in Uttarakhand in 2016. His son, Shiv Kumar, is currently in jail, accused of leaking the Bihar Teacher Recruitment Examination (TRE III) in March 2024, and selling it to candidates for sums ranging from ₹20 to 35 lakh.

“The man drove to work in a car and kept to himself. No one here had a clue about his criminal ways. This is what we told the police officials who came here last week,” Pankaj said.

A senior Bihar police official, who said that Kumar, also known as Sanjeev Mukhia, could be arrested soon, and had made crores from his crimes. “If he took ₹25 lakh from one candidate, and the probe has revealed there were between 20 and 24 students who got the question paper on May 4, the money they made from one centre is close to at least ₹5 crore.

For the last ten days then, vehicles have stormed in and out not just of the college but the village of Shahpur Balwa, about 50 kilometres away from Patna.

Baldev Kumar, a neighbour who spent his teenage years around Mukhia said, “There was something different about him. He always wanted to go to Patna, and moved there 7 to 8 years ago where he lived with his son and wife. His younger brother and his father are both still farmers. We knew his son(Dr Shiv ) had been arrested in a paper leak case some years ago but the family told us that he was framed. His wife Mamata won the Panchayat Elections and was appointed Mukhia. That is why everyone calls him Mukhia.”

Mamta Devi, Mukhia’s wife, had even contested the 2020 assembly elections from Harnaut assembly seat in 2019, but finished second.

Mukhia’s neighbour, who asked not to be named said, “Theirs is the only home with a refrigerator and a washing machine. Whenever he came home, he arrived in a car. We could all see the vehicle because he had to park it outside because there is no road that leads to their house. They were just farmers like us to begin with, but their lifestyle is different. Now we know how they had the money.”

But Mukhia’s mother Jasoda Devi, who lives in a two storey house with her husband and younger son, Rajiv, however said that he had been framed in a political rivalry. “We had differences with some politicians in our district, and that is why we are in this mess. The police and CBI has come to ask about my son’s whereabouts but I do not know where he is. But if he is guilty, he should surrender,” Devi said.