Goa, July 25 -- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has come under sharp criticism over her remarks on the NEET paper leak controversy, with the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and Opposition leaders accusing her of being insensitive towards students affected by the alleged leaks.

Speaking to ANI, Sitharaman defended the Centre's handling of the controversy, saying the government acted swiftly through arrests, a re-examination and timely declaration of results. She also said some students had used the additional time before the re-test to improve their performance.

"First it sort of hurt me when the paper leakages happened but later I took advantage of that and prepared even more and my performance has improved and I've done well," she said...