New Delhi, Jul 24 (IANS): Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday demanded a probe into the alleged massive breach of personal data of candidates who had appeared for NEET 2018 exams.

In a letter to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Chairperson Anita Karwal, Gandhi highlighted media reports about the breach of over 2,00,000 students' data who appeared for the National Eligibility and Entrance Test.

"It is alleged that this data is available on certain websites for a price," he said.

The media reports have claimed that details of the candidates, including their phone numbers, e-mail IDs and addresses, were put up online for a price of Rs two lakh.

The Congress leader said that he was shocked by this wide-scale theft of personal data that could compromise the privacy of candidates across the country.

"This highlights the serious lack of safeguards to prevent data breach, and calls into question the ability of the CBSE to ensure the sanctity of the examination process," he said.

Gandhi said: "I strongly urge you to order an inquiry against this shocking lapse and take action against the officials responsible for the same."

He also asked the CBSE to put in "additional safeguards" to prevent the recurrence of such data lapse in future.