The Economic Offences Unit of Bihar Police has arrested biometric verification contractor Pramod Kumar for allegedly manipulating identity checks and smuggling impersonators into examination centres during the NEET re-examination in Lakhisarai. Kumar, a resident of Jahana village in the Halsi police station area, was sent to judicial custody on Saturday following extensive interrogation by investigators. Police stated that Kumar colluded with verification personnel at test centres to bypass mandatory digital screening, allowing hired proxy examinees, commonly known as scholars, to sit for the test in place of genuine candidates.
Medical Students Deployed as Examination Proxies
The fraudulent operation unraveled during the re-examination held on June 21, 2026, when authorities caught roughly a dozen medical students acting as proxies across three examination venues in Lakhisarai. The impersonators were drawn from medical colleges in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and other states. Investigators identified Ravi alias Ravishankar, a fourth-year student at Pawapuri Medical College, as a central coordinator in the scheme. Ravi and his brother Ashwini were arrested earlier and questioned, during which Ravi admitted to working with Kumar to organize the deployment of proxy candidates. In one instance, an impersonator was arranged to write the exam for Ravi’s wife, Madhu Priya, who was an officially registered candidate. Other individuals linked to the arrangement include Mayank Kashyap from Patna Medical College and Hospital, Sanjeet and Vivek Kumar from Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, and Arpit Singh.
Rigged Verification at Key Examination Venues
Investigators revealed that Kumar had obtained the biometric verification contract for Lakhisarai centres through intermediaries named Vikas Kumar and Rahul. After securing the contract, Kumar formed an illicit arrangement with verification personnel including Mohammad Shahzad, Subodh, and Rohit Kumar alias Murari. The system was compromised at venues such as the Kendriya Vidyalaya centre in Khagaur, enabling unauthorized individuals to replace actual candidates inside the examination halls. Beyond the Khagaur venue, two additional cases of malpractice were registered in the Kawaiya area of Lakhisarai, where Kumar’s involvement is also under active investigation.
Widening Investigation and Inter-District Connections
The Economic Offences Unit has taken Rohit Kumar alias Murari on remand to examine his deeper role alongside Pramod Kumar. Rohit is also implicated in a parallel recruitment examination scam conducted on June 14, 2026, in Nawada for jail warders, prohibition staff, and mobile constabulary posts, where he allegedly managed biometric screening at K.L. Sahu College to clear around half a dozen unauthorized candidates. The agency has named 27 accused individuals in the Lakhisarai case, comprising candidates, proxies, and outsourced biometric operators, and has already filed chargesheets against 14 of them. Investigators are now tracking the financial transactions behind the network while evaluating systemic vulnerabilities in outsourced verification procedures.
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