NEET Paper Leak Row: Raut calls Maharashtra ‘centre point’, attacks CM, Union Minister Pradhan

Mumbai: Maharashtra has emerged as the "centre point" of the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said on Thursday while asking if Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan would take responsibility for "destroying the future of lakhs of students". Thirteen persons have been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation so far, most of them from Maharashtra, including Latur, Pune and Ahilyanagar.

"Maharashtra has emerged as the centre point of the NEET and examination paper leak racket. If the roots of the network are spreading from Latur to Pune, then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan must answer who is responsible," Raut told reporters here.

The future of lakhs of students across the country is being destroyed because of these paper leaks, he said. Referring to the arrest of an accused allegedly linked to the paper leak network, the Rajya Sabha MP claimed there were "connections in Maharashtra" behind the racket.

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The CBI is carrying out investigations, but why were the state machinery and police unaware of the developments? He questioned. The issue was not merely criticism of the chief minister, but a serious question concerning governance and the functioning of institutions conducting competitive examinations, Raut added.

Raut also accused the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra of misleading the public on issues such as inflation, fuel price hikes and the economic situation in the country.