New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a First Information Report (FIR) into the UGC-NET paper leak case on Thursday against unidentified persons on a reference from the Union Education Ministry, media reports said.

The UGC-NET, 2024, exam for the selection of junior research fellows, assistant professors and PhD scholars was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on June 18 in two shifts across the country.

The next day, the University Grants Commission received inputs from the National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre that the paper was leaked online and was allegedly being sold for Rs. 5-6 lakh on messaging platforms, media reports said.

The Centre Wednesday announced the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam following which student protests erupted on university campuses nationwide, with students alleging they had raised concerns about paper leaks a week prior to the exam but received no response.

At Lucknow University, students claimed that at least one paper had been leaked and was being sold for as little as Rs 5,000.

They alleged that the leaked paper had circulated widely through WhatsApp and Telegram groups starting from June 16.

More than 11 lakh students had registered for the exam.

In a statement, the Education Ministry said the June exam of the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) was conducted on Tuesday in OMR (pen and paper) mode in two shifts across the country.

"On 19th June, 2024, the University Grants Commission (UGC) received certain inputs from National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs on the Examination. These inputs prima facie indicate that the integrity of the aforesaid examination may have been compromised," it said.

The ministry said it was announcing the cancellation of the June 2024 examination "to ensure the highest level of transparency and sanctity of the examination process" and that it will be held afresh at a date announced later.

There have been reports of the paper of the examination being leaked, but this was not confirmed by the ministry. It said only that the matter had been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation for investigation.

The UGC-NET is conducted twice every year, in June and December.