Rahul Gandhi seeks probe in NEET data breach, writes letter to Anita Karwal

Congress president on Tuesday requested the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chairperson Anita Karwal to initiate a probe in the alleged NEET data breach. The report was confirmed by a news agency which validated the news by tweeting the letter written by Gandhi to Karwal.

In  the letter, Gandhi had called for an attention towards the massive breach in the data of candidates who appeared in the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) this year. He wrote that this breach questions the credibility of the CBSE to ensure the sanctity of the examination process, reports Deccan Chronicle. The letter states, “I am shocked by this wide-scale theft of personal data that has compromised the privacy of candidates across the country.”

According to reports published by the several news agencies, the data was available for a amount of Rs 2 lakh. The data include 2,50,000 students’ roll numbers, rank in the exam, mobile numbers and even their gender. Also that state-wise data of candidates was also available on the CBSE’s website. Candidates’ data from states – like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Karnataka – was available on the website.

Report published in The Wire states, that the website even offers “interested buyers” a chance to verify whether the data was genuine or not, along with the free sample. As per the report, 13 lakh candidates appeared for the exam this year, out of which 250,000 students’ data are available online.