NEET UG 'Leak': CBI probing role of NTA-linked public servant

NEW DELHI: The alleged role of a public servant associated with the National Testing Agency has come under CBI's scanner in the NEET-UG paper leak case, officials said on Saturday. While seeking the custody of one of the accused, Manisha Sanjay Waghmare, who was arrested on May 14 and chemistry lecturer P V Kulkarni, arrested the next day, the agency presented its case file, alleging that Waghmare, in conspiracy with the other accused person and "with the public servant associated with National Testing Agency (NTA)", had received the question papers and answers on April 27.

Waghmare was known to Kulkarni through biology lecturer Manisha Mandhare who was also arrested by the CBI on Saturday, the agency alleged.

Waghmare allegedly collected the questions from Kulkarni and provided them to another accused Dhananjay Lokhande, who was arrested from Ahilyanagar, and other accused persons for monetary considerations, the agency further alleged. Lokhande has been accused of distributing the questions further.

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NEET Paper Leak: Handwritten chemistry questions

The handwritten chemistry questions, which Kulkarni shared with aspirants, have been destroyed, they said. Waghmare has also destroyed the papers after the examination was over on May 3, they said.

The CBI arrested biology lecturer Mandhare who was part of the National Testing Agency's (NTA) paper-setting committee for NEET-UG held on May 3, officials said. The arrest was made on the basis of questioning of alleged kingpin Kulkarni and other accused in the paper leak case, they said.

Mandhare was arrested here after being questioned by the agency at its headquarters, they said. She was allegedly involved in the NEET (UG) examination process and was appointed by the NTA as an expert, they said.

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NEET: Access to Botony, Zoology question papers

Officials said Mandhare had complete access to the Botony and Zoology question papers. She is alleged to have mobilised prospective NEET examination candidates in April 2026 through Manisha Wagmare of Pune, who was arrested on May 14, and conducted special coaching classes for these students at her Pune residence, CBI spokesperson said in a statement.

In a modus operandi similar to Kulkarni's, Mandhare allegedly dictated leaked questions and responses to select students and took lakhs of rupees as fee, she said. Most of these questions "tallied" with the questions that appeared in the examination on May 3, the CBI Spokesperson said in a statement.

The NEET exam was cancelled following allegations of a paper leak The CBI arrested Kulkarni, a domain expert in chemistry from Latur on Friday.

He has served on panels involved in setting the NEET question paper for years. Exploiting his privileged access to confidential material, Kulkarni allegedly hosted special coaching classes at his house in the last week of April and dictated to his students questions, options and answers which appeared in the NEET UG paper on May 3."

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NEET-UG paper leak

During the last week of April, 2026, he had mobilised students, with the help of another accused namely Manisha Waghmare who was arrested on May 14 by CBI," a spokesperson said in a statement. Students allegedly paid several lakh rupees to attend the sessions where they wrote the questions down in their notebooks and later "tallied exactly" with the actual NEET-UG paper conducted on May 3, the spokesperson said.

The federal agency has registered an FIR and formed teams to probe the alleged paper leak that resulted in the cancellation of the exam held on May 3. The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres.

Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA across the country. According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractice was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the exam was held. The NTA said the inputs were escalated to central agencies the following morning for "independent verification and necessary action."