Patna, July 25: Security has been significantly tightened across Bihar ahead of the statewide bandh called over the NEET paper leak issue, with heavy deployment of police personnel at key locations, including Gandhi Maidan in Patna, and heightened vigil across sensitive areas to maintain law and order.

Visuals from Gandhi Maidan showed an increased security presence as authorities remained on high alert in view of the bandh call.

Members of the All India Students' Association (AISA) blocked the Samastipur-Patna main road as part of the statewide shutdown over the NEET paper leak issue in the state. The protesters also demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Meanwhile, on Friday, speaking after being arrested in connection with the violence during the NEET protest in Patna, CPI(ML) MLA Sandeep Saurav said the agitation would continue until the resignation of the Union Education Minister.

"We have to fight and win, and we will take Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. Until then, the youth of the entire country will not stop raising their voice. This fight should continue until Dharmendra Pradhan resigns and the children who committed suicide in the NEET paper leak do not get justice," Saurav said.

AISA's Bihar State President Dhananjay also criticised the government's action against the protesters, alleging that students were being targeted for demanding the resignation of the Union Education Minister.

"We were on the streets demanding the resignation of one man, Dharmendra Pradhan... This government is trying to put all of us in jail... The kind of arrests you have made, the kind of inhumanity you are subjecting the youth students of Bihar to, will be completely intolerable," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, violent clashes and stone-pelting broke out outside the state Congress headquarters in Patna as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers held high-voltage demonstrations across multiple states to protest the Congress party's march toward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Kalyan Marg (LKM) residence in New Delhi.

The nationwide counter-protests, spanning Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Chhattisgarh, follow intense political escalation in the national capital over the NEET-UG 2026 examination controversy and alleged police aggression against student groups. (ANI)