The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday said that there is no evidence to show that Sanjeev Mukhiya was involved in the theft or distribution of the 2024 undergraduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test question paper, The Indian Express reported.

Mukhiya, the main suspect in the paper leak case and several other interstate exam scams, was arrested last year on April 25 by Bihar’s Economic Offences Unit. He was arrested in a midnight operation in Danapur after evading arrest for about 11 months.

The case was transferred to the CBI on June 23, 2024.

However, the CBI did not file a chargesheet against Mukhiya. The central agency has, however, filed multiple chargesheets against 45 persons before a court in Patna, NDTV reported.

Allegations of question paper leaks and other irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, for admission to undergraduate medical courses, surfaced after the results of the examination were declared on June 4, 2024. The examination was conducted on May 5, 2024.

In a statement released on Thursday, the CBI explained why it had not filed a chargesheet against Mukhiya. It said that initially, suspicion had emerged about Mukhiya’s role as he had been found to have been involved in other paper theft and leak cases, The Indian Express reported.

“In the course of its investigation, CBI did not come across any evidence to establish the involvement of Mukhiya in the theft or distribution of the stolen NEET [UG] 2024 question paper,” the agency was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “Having conducted a detailed and thorough investigation into the case, CBI is satisfied that the entire conspiracy and the persons involved therein stand identified.”

On July 22, 2024, the Union government had said that there was no proof of any large-scale leaks of the question paper for the 2024 NEET-UG examination.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.