Student arrested in NEET-UG case, paid Rs 10 lakh for leaked paper: Sources
As many as four teams of the CBI reportedly arrived in Maharashtra's Nashik to take custody of the accused, a 30-year-old BAMS student named Shubham Khairnar.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday took a 30-year-old Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) student into custody from Maharashtra's Nashik in connection with the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, officials said.
The accused has been identified as Shubham Khairnar. He allegedly bought the "guess paper" that is at the centre of the 2026 NEET-UG question paper "leak" scandal for Rs 10 lakh from another suspect based in Pune, and sold it further for Rs 15 lakh to a Haryana-based buyer, sources within the police said.
As many as four teams of the Central Bureau of Investigation, which has been tasked by the Centre with investigating the alleged paper leak, reportedly arrived in Nashik to take custody of Khairnar.
He was initially detained by the Nashik Crime Branch, which later handed him over to the central agency.
The police sources also said that the exam paper was not printed in Nashik. The claim casts doubt over the earlier theory that the paper was leaked directly from a printing press in the city.
Meanwhile, Dr Madhukar Khairnar, Shubham's father, has denied the allegations against his son and asserted that he is innocent.
NEET-UG 2026 PAPER LEAK: BRIEF OVERVIEW
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on May 3 for students seeking admission to medical education courses at the undergraduate level. Around 22 lakh aspirants appeared for the medical entrance test.
More than a week later, on Tuesday, May 12, the NTA cancelled the examination amid a rapidly escalating controversy over the alleged leak of the question paper and action initiated by the police in Rajasthan.
"The National Testing Agency is aware of reports concerning the action initiated by the Rajasthan Special Operations Group in connection with alleged irregularities around NEET (UG) 2026. The examination on May 3, 2026 was conducted as scheduled and under a full security protocol," the NTA said in a post on X on May 10.
According to the exam conducting authority, inputs regarding alleged malpractice activity were received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination, and were escalated to central agencies on the morning of May 8 for "independent verification and necessary action".
It further said the action taken by law enforcement authorities, including recent detentions reported in the media, was a result of the "professional and timely work" of the investigating agencies.
The May 12 announcement by the NTA about the cancellation of the 2026 NEET-UG examination followed developments in Rajasthan, where the state police's Special Operations Group (SOG) had been probing allegations that the entrance test's question paper had leaked just days before the May 3 examination.
'GUESS PAPER' MYSTERY
According to the Rajasthan SOG probe, details of which emerged over the last two days, a set of handwritten questions, which were purportedly part of a "guess paper" partially matched the actual exam paper.
Guess papers are basically practice questions prepared by tutors based on previous years' trends.
All 90 questions in Biology and all 45 questions in Chemistry asked in the NEET exam were found in the "guess paper", which contained 281 questions. The NEET exam has a total of 180 questions, each carrying four marks.
Multiple arrests have been made from various parts of the country so far in connection with the alleged irregularities in the examination.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday took a 30-year-old Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) student into custody from Maharashtra's Nashik in connection with the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, officials said.
The accused has been identified as Shubham Khairnar. He allegedly bought the "guess paper" that is at the centre of the 2026 NEET-UG question paper "leak" scandal for Rs 10 lakh from another suspect based in Pune, and sold it further for Rs 15 lakh to a Haryana-based buyer, sources within the police said.
As many as four teams of the Central Bureau of Investigation, which has been tasked by the Centre with investigating the alleged paper leak, reportedly arrived in Nashik to take custody of Khairnar.
He was initially detained by the Nashik Crime Branch, which later handed him over to the central agency.
The police sources also said that the exam paper was not printed in Nashik. The claim casts doubt over the earlier theory that the paper was leaked directly from a printing press in the city.
Meanwhile, Dr Madhukar Khairnar, Shubham's father, has denied the allegations against his son and asserted that he is innocent.
NEET-UG 2026 PAPER LEAK: BRIEF OVERVIEW
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on May 3 for students seeking admission to medical education courses at the undergraduate level. Around 22 lakh aspirants appeared for the medical entrance test.
More than a week later, on Tuesday, May 12, the NTA cancelled the examination amid a rapidly escalating controversy over the alleged leak of the question paper and action initiated by the police in Rajasthan.
"The National Testing Agency is aware of reports concerning the action initiated by the Rajasthan Special Operations Group in connection with alleged irregularities around NEET (UG) 2026. The examination on May 3, 2026 was conducted as scheduled and under a full security protocol," the NTA said in a post on X on May 10.
According to the exam conducting authority, inputs regarding alleged malpractice activity were received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination, and were escalated to central agencies on the morning of May 8 for "independent verification and necessary action".
It further said the action taken by law enforcement authorities, including recent detentions reported in the media, was a result of the "professional and timely work" of the investigating agencies.
The May 12 announcement by the NTA about the cancellation of the 2026 NEET-UG examination followed developments in Rajasthan, where the state police's Special Operations Group (SOG) had been probing allegations that the entrance test's question paper had leaked just days before the May 3 examination.
'GUESS PAPER' MYSTERY
According to the Rajasthan SOG probe, details of which emerged over the last two days, a set of handwritten questions, which were purportedly part of a "guess paper" partially matched the actual exam paper.
Guess papers are basically practice questions prepared by tutors based on previous years' trends.
All 90 questions in Biology and all 45 questions in Chemistry asked in the NEET exam were found in the "guess paper", which contained 281 questions. The NEET exam has a total of 180 questions, each carrying four marks.
Multiple arrests have been made from various parts of the country so far in connection with the alleged irregularities in the examination.
