CBI scans Hazaribag hotel's guest logs to bust paper leak 'gang'

HAZARIBAG: CBI officers probing the NEET-UG paper leak on Sunday summoned hoteliers, banquet hall owners and resort proprietors in Hazaribag to examine their guests' registers and identify individuals who visited and stayed in the Jharkhand town from May 3 to May 6. The medical entrance test was held on May 5.
This follows the discovery of a burnt NEET exam booklet allocated to Hazaribag's Oasis School, whose principal Ehsanul Haq, vice-principal, Mohammad Imtiyaz Alam and an associate, journalist Jamaluddin, are in custody.Haq and Alam were sacked by the school last week.
CBI aims to uncover members of the gang responsible for tampering with the question papers on May 3, two days before the test, and passing them on to Sanjeev Mukhiya, the alleged leak mastermind.
"We were asked to bring along our visitors' registers, bill books and Aadhaar cards records of all customers who stayed between May 3 and May 6," said a hotel owner who was among those who appeared before CBI officers.
Sources said the discovery of the burnt Oasis-linked NEET exam booklet in Patna corroborates the findings of Bihar Police's Economic Offence Unit (EOU) that the paper was possibly leaked from the Hazaribag school.
The EOU had carried out the initial probe before the case was handed over to CBI.
The sources claimed CBI had concluded that the tampering of the question paper box was carried out by Haq, Alam and Jamaluddin, acting on the instructions of Mukhiya.
CBI suspects the gang members likely checked out of Hazaribag on May 6.
A day after the NEET exam, prompting the hotels' scan. According to regulations, hotels are required to retain customers' records for at least a year.
Many other hotel owners and managers have been summoned with such details on Monday as well.