On June 21, the EOU noticed tampering of the seven-layer packaging, said Ehsanul Haque.
In a first, a District Coordinator of the National Testing Agency or NTA, which holds the medical entrance exam NEET-UG (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test), has admitted that the question papers were tampered with. Dr Ahsanul Haque, who also heads Hazaribagh's Oasis school where the exam was held on May 5, said the tampering was discovered by the officers of the Bihar Police's Economic Offences Unit, which was investigating the alleged paper leak till it was taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation last week.
"On June 21, the EOU investigating the case noticed the tampering of the seven-layer packaging of the NEET question paper," Dr Haque told NDTV in an exclusive interview. The tampering was noticed in the seventh and innermost layer, he said. The officials noted this while checking the unused papers at the school.
The Box With Two Locks, One of Them Digital
It is not clear how the innermost layer was tampered with if the outer layers were intact. One of these outer layers is a metal box with two sets of locks. One of the locks is digital, which is programmed to open on its own two hours before the exam. The other is a mechanical one which needs to be cut with a file to open the box.
Dr Haque said the investigating officers have concluded that the weak link in the question paper custody chain is the courier service. The Blue Dart courier is in charge of transporting the papers from Ranchi to Hazaribagh and then to the State Bank of India, where they are stored in lockers.
The officials, he said, had hinted that proper procedure was not followed by the courier transferring the papers.
The usual mode of transfer is by flight from Delhi to state capitals after which they are moved to the lockers of the State Bank of India, he said.
The sealed boxes of question papers are opened at the bank two hours before the exam, in presence of the local magistrate and the Centre heads, who act as witnesses. The entire process is videographed.
The sealed envelopes are then taken to the exam centre, where they are handed to invigilators. This time, two candidates taking the exam are present as witnesses.
Arrests Across Bihar, Jharkhand
A series of arrests have been made in Bihar and Jharkhand after allegations of widespread irregularities in the exam, taken by more than 24 lakh aspirants.
Six men were arrested from Jharkhand's Deoghar three days ago. All of them are residents of Nalanda in Bihar, and were hiding in a rented house in Deoghar, the police said. While those involved in solving the papers were operating from Ranchi and Jharkhand, the role of these men in the paper leak is still not clear.
In Bihar, 13 people have been arrested so far in connection with the case. The last three men arrested said they were charging each candidate Rs 30 to 40 lakh for the solved answer sheets which they had to memorise.
The candidates who have been questioned, said at least 30 of them have received solved answer papers, indicating the existence of a massive network that operated in a planned manner across Bihar and Jharkhand.
The Delhi Link
A Delhi and Maharashtra connection has also emerged with the arrest of a school teacher in Latur.
Jalil Umarkhan Pathan and Sanjay Tukaram Jadhav taught in schools run by the district administration. They also ran private coaching centres.
They were in touch with a man from Delhi, one Gangadhar, who used to put them in charge with NEET aspirants willing to bend the rules and pay hefty sums for help, sources said.