Video doesn't show police arresting NEET leak case suspects from 'Deogarh Congress office'

What is the claim?

A video circulating on social media purports to show police arresting six individuals allegedly involved in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) question paper leak case from a Congress office in Deoghar, a city in the Indian state of Jharkhand. The video has surfaced amid ongoing controversy surrounding the NEET examination.

The clip was widely shared on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), with claims that the accused were hiding in the Congress office in Deoghar. One user posted, "BIGBREAKING: 6 persons accused of NEET leak were hiding in Congress office of Deoghar in Jharkhand. It seems a larger conspiracy hatched by Congress and its allies to harm the nation." Archived versions of these posts can be accessed here and here.

Screenshots of the viral social media posts. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, this claim is false. The video actually depicts the arrest of six individuals involved in the NEET-UG paper leak case, taken from LNJP Hospital in Patna after their medical examination.

What is the video from?

Upon reviewing the viral video, we identified the news agency ANI’s logo in the top-right corner. Based on this, we confirmed that the video was originally posted by ANI (archived here) on June 23, 2024. According to the news agency, the video depicts six accused individuals arrested in connection with the NEET-UG question paper leak case being escorted from LNJP Hospital, Patna, following their medical examination. The caption accompanying the post stated that Bihar Police had apprehended the accused in Deoghar, Jharkhand, on June 21.

We discovered multiple images of the hospital in Patna on Google Maps that match with the viral video. In both sets of visuals, we observed identical features such as the railing, building color, and two nameplates—likely inaugural plaques. The video was filmed at the trauma center gate of Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Narayan Hospital in Patna.

A comparison between the viral video and an image on Google Maps. (Source: X/Google Maps/Modified by Logically Facts)

Where were the accused arrested?

The Hindu reported that the Bihar Police’s Economic Offences Unit (EOU) arrested six individuals from Deoghar, Jharkhand, on June 21 in connection with the NEET paper leak. According to Deoghar Police, the suspects—Paramjit Singh, Baldev Kumar, Prashant Kumar, Ajit Kumar, Rajiv Kumar, and Pinku Kumar—were residents of Nalanda in Bihar. They were apprehended from a residence near All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Deoghar.

According to The Times of India, Deoghar Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Hrithik Srivastava stated that the suspects had been hiding in the house of Jhunu Singh in Devipur since the Bihar Police exposed widespread cheating on May 5. The EOU arrested them from this "safe house" near AIIMS Deoghar and transferred them to Patna on transit remand. Nineteen individuals have been arrested in total as part of this investigation.

Police reports do not indicate any involvement of the Congress party or a Congress office in this case. Reports clearly state that the accused were found in a house or "safe house" in Deoghar. Police officials have not implicated Congress in their statements regarding this matter.

The verdict

A video depicting police escorting six individuals accused in the NEET-UG paper leak case from a hospital after a medical examination is being shared with misleading context. The suspects were arrested from a residence in Deoghar, not from the Congress office as claimed.