Biometric firm staff aided NEET cheating in Bihar, police say

2 min readPatnaUpdated: Jun 24, 2026 02:11 PM IST

To bypass initial security layers, the accused allegedly forged official documents and used fake Aadhaar cards as identity proof. (Express Photo)

The Bihar Police investigation into a “dummy candidate” racket busted in Lakhisarai following Sunday’s NEET-UG re-test has found that at least two of the 30 people arrested in the case were directly involved with an inter-state “solver gang”, officers said.

According to police, some persons already enrolled in MBBS and other professional courses allegedly impersonated candidates and took the NEET re-test on their behalf at three Lakhisarai examination centres – KRK College, Kendriya Vidyalaya, and Hasanpur High School. Police arrested 30 individuals, including nine “dummy candidates” and staffers involved in the biometric verification process of candidates, in connection with the case.

The racket allegedly operated by infiltrating exam centres with the help of some of the biometric verification staff, police said. To bypass initial security layers, the accused allegedly forged official documents and used fake Aadhaar cards as identity proof.

Lakhisarai Superintendent of Police Prerna Kumar told The Indian Express: “Our investigation so far has centred around the involvement of one Arpit Singh, a resident of Bhagwanpur in Muzaffarpur, who has been arrested. He is a fourth-year MBBS student and seems to be the main conduit between a solver gang and scholars. We are also looking into the involvement of another arrested person, Mayank Kashyap, a resident of Paswan Chowk in Vaishali. He is a fourth-year MBBS student working with the biometric team.”

The officer also said that police were writing to the National Testing Agency (NTA) to learn about the credentials of the companies that operated the biometric system. “As of now, it is a clear case of violation of biometric attendance,” the SP said.

Apart from “dummy candidates”, police also arrested a candidate registered to appear for the NEET re-test, two accomplices, and 18 biometric verification staff. Most of the arrested staffers are from Nalanda and Lakhisarai.

The NEET re-test was held across the country on Sunday after the previous test, held on May 3, was cancelled over allegations of a question paper leak.

Santosh Singh is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express since June 2008.

Expertise

He covers Bihar with main focus on politics, society and governance.

Investigative and explanatory stories are also his forte. Singh has 25 years of experience in print journalism covering Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

... Read More

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:

Bihar

NEET UG