NEET PAPER LEAK: With people furious about the NEET question paper leak, NTA Director General Abhishek Singh showed up before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports on Thursday, May 21. He faced some tough questions about what went wrong and why the medical entrance test had to be cancelled. Sources say Singh told the committee that the agency doesn’t see the NEET exam as “leaked.” Even when Opposition members pressed for answers, NTA officials stuck to their story: the CBI is investigating, and they’ll only call it a leak if the CBI finishes its probe and confirms it. The committee members also raised questions on the NTA regarding earlier allegations of paper-foiling.
NTA Chief Abhishek Singh Faces Parliamentary Panel
During the meeting, the NTA officials had several questions put forward by the chairman of the committee, Digvijaya Singh. During the debate, MPs on the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) side were visibly supporting the NTA’s stance, sources said. The results of the National Eligibiliy-cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NET) that was conducted on May 3 were cancelled a day later after a significant portion of the questions were leaked.
NTA Claims Questions Were Memorised, Not Leaked
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Bansuri Swaraj, and Sambit Patra accused Digvijaya Singh, saying he could not claim that the NEET papers were leaked when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is still probing the matter. NTA Secretary Pradeep Joshi reportedly stated that the papers were not leaked but were “compromised.” He explained that the professors assigned to translate the paper into Marathi had memorised the questions.
Sambit Patra also alleged that Digvijaya Singh leaked the agenda before the meeting began. Amid the heated exchange, Digvijaya Singh responded by saying, “If this is not called a paper leak, then what should it be called?”
In reply, Ravi Shankar Prasad said no conclusion should be drawn until the CBI submits its final report. NTA Director General Abhishek Singh maintained that the NEET papers were not leaked, but that certain individuals had memorised some of the questions. He asserted that the NEET papers could not have been leaked.
During the meeting, suggestions were made to prepare 10 different sets of question papers and distribute different sets to different states. The idea was that even if one set were compromised, the impact would remain limited to a single state.
The re-examination for NEET is scheduled for June 21, 2026.
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