Nawada, Bihar/IBNS: A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team probing the UGC-NET paper leak was attacked by people in a village in Bihar's Nawada district on Saturday late afternoon, the police said on Sunday.

Nawada Police in a video posted on X handle said the CBI team was attacked by some villagers who surrounded them and beat them up around 430 pm on Saturday when they reached the Kasiyadih village of Rajauli area of the district for the investigation. Their vehicle was damaged too.

Police said the CBI officers were rescued by the local police as they reached the spot swiftly and the CBI team later in the police station lodged a complaint of violence and obstruction of official duty. Four people were arrested later.

The CBI team had gone to the spot on the trail of some suspects involved in the UGC NET question paper leak case.

Reports said the UGC-NET exam paper was sold on the darknet for INR 6 lakh.

While the government  transferred the investigation into the  NEET-UG exam leak to the CBI, the federal agency is also probing the UGC-NET exam, which was held on June 18 this year and cancelled two days later on June 20, citing that its "integrity was compromised". The CBI registered an FIR in the matter on June 20.

Even as the controversy over NEET threatens to reach a boiling point, the Ministry of Education has cancelled the UGC-NET exam, conducted by the National Testing Agency, just a day after it was held.

Over 9 lakh candidates appeared for the exam, which is held for Assistant Professor recruitments in universities and colleges as well as to determine eligibility for junior research fellowships.

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 "to ensure the highest level of transparency and sanctity of the examination process".

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 CBI.

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