CBI refutes reports claiming FBI team in India to probe 'bitcoin scam'
New Delhi, Apr 10: The CBI on Sunday refuted reports that a team of the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was in India to probe the alleged bitcoin case being investigated by the Karnataka Police, and termed the statements "speculative" and "without any basis".
In a statement, the central agency said the FBI has not sent any team to India to conduct a probe in the matter nor has any request been made by the US probe agency to the CBI for conducting an investigation in this case.
"Accordingly, the question of according any permission for the probe by Competent Authority in India does not arise. CBI as the National Central Bureau for INTERPOL in India coordinates closely with international law enforcement agencies including FBI," Central Bureau of Investigation spokesperson RC Joshi said.
The statement comes after the Congress on Friday asked whether the FBI is in India to investigate an alleged "Bitcoin scam" which the party had accused the BJP government in Karnataka of covering up last year.
Later, senior officials added that the statements and reports claiming the presence of the FBI team to probe the case are "speculative, without any basis" and issued with a "malafide intent".
In a tweet, Congress MLA from Chittarpur Priyank Kharge had said he believed the "FBI is in Delhi to investigate the billion dollar" Bitcoin scam.
"Like i said before, if the state investigates the matter diligently, a lot of BJP's skeletons will tumble out," he had said.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surajewala had also tweeted, saying, "The layers of #BitcoinScam are finally being unearthed!"
He had asked several questions related to the alleged scam, including whether the FBI was in India to investigate India's biggest Bitcoin Scam Coverup under Karnataka BJP Govt?
He had also asked the government to release details of the investigation and suspects, including political people.
Accusing the Congress of playing politics on the alleged bitcoin scam issue, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had last year asked the opposition party to give documents, if any, to investigating agencies.
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NEET-UG: 2 more held, role of several NTA officers under scanner; CBI focussing on source of leak
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has arrested two more persons in connection with the NEET (UG) paper-leak case, with the role of several officers of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other organisations, who had access to the printing press where the papers were printed, coming under the scanner, officials said on Thursday.
The agency has arrested Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar and Manisha Waghmare from Pune and conducted searches at 14 locations across the country in the last 24 hours, they said.
The CBI is focussing on identifying the source of the leak that has caused massive disappointment to lakhs of aspirants eyeing a seat in undergraduate medical courses, which are allotted after the highly-competitive examination, the officials said.
According to the CBI probe so far, the involvement of public servants in the leak cannot be ruled out.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three individuals from Jaipur -- Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal -- along with Yash Yadav from Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik.
Khairnar was in touch with Yadav and informed him in April that Mangilal Biwal was ready to pay Rs 10-12 lakh for arranging leaked NEET (UG) 2026 questions for his younger son.
Khairnar allegedly provided 500 to 600 questions from the leaked paper to Yadav, the officials said, adding that the questions could have helped score enough marks to get a seat in a reputed medical college.
Mangilal Biwal allegedly procured the paper from Yadav, who was known to his elder son Vikas Biwal from an NEET coaching in Rajasthan's Sikar. The deal between Mangilal Biwal and Yadav was for Rs 10 lakh, if 150 questions from the question bank matched with those in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper, the officials said.
Mangilal Biwal shared the paper with his son and further distributed it among relatives.
Yadav also told Vikas Biwal to find additional candidates for the questions to recover some of the money that he had spent on getting those, the officials said.
An analysis of digital devices has given the agency incriminating chats, leaked question papers and other digital evidence. The CBI will subject the devices to a forensic examination to get the deleted data, the officials said.
The federal agency has registered an FIR and formed teams to probe the alleged NEET (UG) paper leak that resulted in the cancellation of the exam held on May 3.
The NEET (UG) 2026 was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA at centres across the country.
According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractice was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination was held. The NTA said the inputs were escalated to central agencies the following morning for "independent verification and necessary action".
The Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has claimed that a "guess paper" for chemistry, allegedly circulated among students ahead of the examination, had approximately 410 questions, including roughly 120 that appeared in the test.
