A major examination fraud syndicate associated with the NEET UG 2026 re-examination was unearthed in Bihar on Monday, where 30 persons were arrested, including nine such men who took the exam in place of genuine candidates during the exam on Sunday.

The police operation comes in light of the nationwide controversy surrounding the NEET UG 2026 paper leak, which prompted the National Testing Agency (NTA) to cancel the original May 3 exam, and conduct a re-test on June 21.

More than 22 lakh candidates from India and abroad took the re-test.

Exam held at 5,440 exam centres

The NEET UG 2026 re-test was held at 5,440 examination centres spread across 551 Indian cities and 14 international locations. Amid heightened security measures and close monitoring by authorities, law enforcement agencies launched targeted operations after receiving tip-offs that attempts were being made to manipulate the examination process.

Officials aware of the case said the crackdown unearthed an organised network allegedly involved in deploying proxy candidates to appear in place of registered examinees.

Arrests made from multiple examination centres

Police conducted raids at multiple examination centres, including Kendriya Vidyalaya, Government High School Hasanpur and KRK Higher Secondary School. Seven accused were arrested from the Kendriya Vidyalaya centre alone, while one person each was held from KRK High School and Hasanpur school. As many as nine persons impersonating genuine examinees were taken into custody.

Medical students among those arrested

The cops said that some of the arrested persons are medical students allegedly recruited from reputed institutions across the country. Authorities believe the suspects may have been part of a larger network specialising in exam fraud and candidate substitution.

Lakhisarai’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Preprana said that cell phone and important documents were recovered from the possession of the accused during the raids. The seized possessions are expected to play a pivotal role in establishing links between the arrested accused and the wider racket.