The CBI on Thursday filed its first chargesheet against 13 accused persons in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case.

The agency has named 13 accused persons — Nitish Kumar, Amit Anand, Sikander Yadvendu, Ashutosh Kumar-1, Roshan Kumar, Manish Prakash, Ashutosh Kumar-2, Akhilesh Kumar, Avdesh Kumar, Anurag Yadav, Abhishek Kumar, Shivnandan Kumar and Ayush Raj — in the chargesheet.

“The CBI has utilised advanced forensic techniques, artificial intelligence technology, CCTV footage and mobile tower location analysis to gather evidence against the accused,” the agency spokesperson said.

“The agency is continuing further investigation against other accused/ suspects and on other aspects of the case. Several other accused are already in police/
judicial custody.”

The CBI has, so far, registered six FIRs in the case and arrested 40 accused including 15 arrested by Bihar police and conducted searches at 58 locations.

The FIR from Bihar pertains to paper leaks while the remaining ones from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are regarding impersonation of candidates and cheating.

The agency is probing the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam following a reference from the education ministry. The Centre — which initially dismissed the possibility of a paper leak — had later handed the probe to the CBI amid countrywide protests and litigation by students for a fair investigation.

The NEET was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities across the country with over 23 lakh candidates appearing for
the examination.