CBI arrests Latur-based doctor, Pune physics teacher in NEET UG paper leak case

The CBI has arrested a Latur-based doctor and a physics faculty member at a Pune-based coaching institute in connection with the NEET UG paper leak case, officials said on Wednesday. The agency arrested Manoj Shirure for allegedly playing a "key role" in facilitating three students, including the son of Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar, who runs the Renukai Chemistry Classes (RCC) in Maharashtra's Latur, in getting chemistry questions from NEET paper setter P V Kulkarni, they said.

The agency had already arrested Montegaonkar in the case. The CBI also arrested Tejas Harshadkumar Shah, a physics teacher at Dr Abhang Prabhu Medical Academy (APMA), a coaching centre in Pune. Shah allegedly received leaked physics questions from NEET UG from arrested accused Manisha Havaldar, the officials said. With this, the total number of arrests made in the paper leak case went up to 13, the officials said.

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"The investigation to unearth the chain as well as the conspiracy in this case is ongoing. The CBI has so far conducted searches at 49 locations and seized several incriminating documents, laptops, and mobile phones," a CBI spokesperson said in a statement. On May 12, the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET, held on May 3 for medical admissions amid allegations of paper leak. A re-examination has been scheduled for June 21. The CBI registered the case on the same day based on a written complaint by the Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education.

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The central probe agency formed special teams to probe the case, conducted searches across the country and made prompt arrests, the spokesperson said. "So far, 13 accused have been arrested in this case from Delhi, Jaipur, Gurugram, Nasik, Pune, Latur and Ahliyanagar," he said. The investigation conducted so far has brought out the actual source of the leakage of the question papers, the agency had said earlier. "The middlemen, involved in mobilising the students who paid lakhs of rupees to attend special coaching classes where the questions which would come in the NEET UG 2026 were shared, have also been identified and arrested," the spokesperson had said. The NEET was conducted on May 3 across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA. According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractices was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the exam was held. The NTA said the inputs were shared with the central agencies the next morning for "independent verification and necessary action".