US President Biden and PM Modi to have virtual meeting on Monday: White House
New Delhi, Apr 10: The Ukraine crisis, developments in South Asia and the situation in the Indo-Pacific region are expected to figure at a virtual meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden on Monday.
The virtual interaction between the two leaders will precede the fourth India-US '2+2' foreign and defence ministerial dialogue in Washington on Monday.
Announcing the Modi-Biden meeting, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it will "enable both sides to continue their regular and high-level engagement aimed at further strengthening the bilateral comprehensive global strategic partnership."
White House press secretary Jen Psaki in a statement said, "President Biden will continue our close consultations on the consequences of Russia's brutal war against Ukraine and mitigating its destabilising impact on global food supply and commodity markets."
In its statement, the MEA said Modi and Biden will exchange views on recent developments in South Asia, the Indo-Pacific region and global issues of mutual interest.
"The two leaders will review ongoing bilateral cooperation and exchange views on recent developments in South Asia, the Indo-Pacific region and global issues of mutual interest," it said.
The virtual meeting comes in the midst of some disquiet in Washington over India's position on the Ukraine crisis as well as its decision to procure discounted Russian oil.
Late last month, US Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics Daleep Singh during a visit to New Delhi said that Washington would not like to see a "rapid" acceleration in India's import of energy and other commodities from Russia.
The US president last spoke to Modi and other Quad leaders during a virtual meeting in March.
Psaki said Biden and Modi will discuss cooperation on a range of issues, including ending the COVID-19 pandemic, countering the climate crisis, strengthening the global economy, and upholding a free, open, rules-based international order to bolster security, democracy, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.
"The leaders will advance ongoing conversations about the development of an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and delivering high-quality infrastructure," she said.
The Ukraine issue is also likely to come up at the '2+2' dialogue. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will hold the fourth edition of the '2+2' dialogue with US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
"The leaders' virtual interaction will precede the fourth India-US 2+2 ministerial dialogue which will be led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar on the Indian side and their US counterparts, Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken," the MEA said.
MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Thursday said India has established economic ties with Russia and its focus is on stabilising these relations in the current circumstances while asserting that "political colouring" should not be attributed to the engagement.
"We have established economic relations with Russia. Our focus is on stabilising these established economic relations in the current circumstances. We have been very open about it," he said.
Unlike its Quad partner countries, India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it abstained from the votes at the UN platforms on the Russian aggression.
India has been pressing for the resolution of the crisis through diplomacy and dialogue.
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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.
