Sikar coaching ecosystem, linked to NEET UG paper leak, has a murky past

This isn't the first time that the NEET-UG exam and Rajasthan's Sikar are part of the same headline. After the NEET-UG 2024 results were released, it was revealed that of the 50 exam centres that had the highest percentage of candidates scoring above 650, 37 centres were located in Rajasthan's Sikar district alone. A score above 650 is required for getting seats in government medical colleges in India.

Two years later came NEET-UG 2026, and Sikar once again found itself under the spotlight. After an alleged paper leak linked to Sikar came to light, the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the May 3 examination and announced a fresh test. A CBI probe has been ordered.

Investigators probing the case said the alleged question bank originated from a medical student from Rajasthan's Churu district (a district adjoining Sikar), who was studying in Kerala. The paper was allegedly passed to an associate in Sikar before reaching a paying guest facility operator, which was then circulated among aspirants for amounts ranging from Rs 30,000 to Rs 5 lakh.

Over the past few days, the Rajasthan Special Operations Group (SOG) has interrogated 13 suspects from Dehradun, Sikar and Jhunjhunu in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case.

The lens is now on Sikar, which has emerged as the "mini Kota" with a flourishing coaching ecosystem. Educators, opposition leaders, and stakeholders are questioning Sikar's link to these exam-related irregularities. Does Sikar have the answer to systemic vulnerabilities in India's highly competitive examination system? Why did the government and authorities concerned not act after the 2024 NEET controversy?

"Sikar's coaching institutes are also politically influential and are often accused of being involved in funding local-level elections and political networks," Khurpench, a Uttar Pradesh-based whistleblower-activist, told India Today Digital.

WHY 2024 SIKAR EXAM CENTRES CASE WASN'T PROBED?

Once a relatively quiet town, in Rajasthan's Shekhawati region, Sikar has rapidly turned into Rajasthan's "mini Kota" since the mid-2000s. Located roughly 300 kilometres from New Delhi, around 120 kilometres from Jaipur and approximately 370 kilometres from Kota, Sikar emerged as a cheaper, less chaotic alternative to the country's coaching capital.

However, the recurring pattern of exam-related irregularities linked to Sikar has many ask pointed questions. And it is not just these two NEET examinations. Even in the 2021 teacher recruitment exam paper leak case in Rajasthan, trails had led investigating agencies to coaching centres and networks linked to Sikar.

"... The hub of this entire operation is Sikar, where the success rate is 6 times the national average. A similar thing happened in 2024 too, but the allegations were brushed under the carpet. Had we dealt with it in 2024 with an iron hand, this wouldn't have repeated," entrepreneur-educationist Maheshwar Peri posted on X.

"The modus operandi is simple. In Sikar, the students are called in for a mock test a day before the actual exam and made to prepare for each of the questions on the guess paper. The students had 140 of the 180 questions prepared, thus guaranteeing 600 of the 720 marks even before they entered the exam hall," added Peri.

"As for the alleged irregularities and paper leak networks [linked to Sikar], their rise has become more visible over the past four to five years. The pattern first drew attention during Rajasthan state-level recruitment exam controversies such as REET-2021, Patwari recruitment and the SI recruitment exam, where investigative trails repeatedly led to coaching-linked networks in Sikar. The concerns have now escalated to national-level examinations like NEET," said Khurpench.

Of the 22.75 lakh registered candidates, around 22.05 lakh appeared for the pen-and-paper examination on May 3. Now all the 22 candidates will have to re-appear in the examination when it's announced for a later date by the NTA.

HOW SIKAR BECAME RAJASTHAN'S MINI KOTA

Sikar's rise as a coaching hub has been somewhat similar to that of Kota. But the scale was not the same. However, Sikar's rise was remarkably fast, according to reports. Thousands of NEET and IIT-JEE aspirants from Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and even Delhi, started flocking to Sikar in the last decade.

Hostel costs were lower than in Kota, and the atmosphere was marketed as "less stressful". Coaching institutes promised personalised mentoring. After the first institute opened in 1996, Sikar now has dozens of coaching centres, including brands like Physics Wallah, and ALLEN, which have expanded to Sikar.

By 2023, Sikar was no longer seen as an "alternative" to Kota. It became a direct competitor, with a 2023 report in The Indian Express, saying the town had been "outperforming Kota in NEET for the past few years".

In the 2023 NEET exam, 23 from Sikar were among the top 1,000 rank holders, according to the report.

"To a significant extent, the controversy [over the NEET paper leak] is being viewed as a byproduct of the growing commercial competition between Sikar and Kota," Khurpench, the whistle-blower, said.

"In this commercial and hyper-competitive environment, coaching institutes face enormous pressure to prove themselves as the top performers. Critics argue that this race for ranks, toppers and admissions has pushed certain coaching institutes, consultancy operators and alleged mafias towards unethical practices such as paper leaks and organised cheating networks," the whistleblower-activist told India Today Digital.

HOW SIKAR IS LINKED TO NEET-UG 2026 PAPER LEAK

Following reports of paper leaks in the NEET-UG 2026 exam, the Sikar link emerged again. The Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group (SOG), investigating the matter, found that the district in northern Rajasthan was the main point from where the handwritten "guess paper" spread among aspirants before the May 3 examination.

The material, containing around 400 questions, began circulating in Sikar nearly two days before the examination and was allegedly sold to students for amounts ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2 lakh.

Investigators suspect that nearly 135 questions in the actual NEET-UG paper matched the circulated material, especially in the chemistry and biology sections, which account for close to 600 marks out of the total 720 marks.

Sources told India Today TV that Rakesh Mandawaria, also referred to as Rakesh Mandvaria, who runs SK Consultancy on Piprali Road in Sikar, was suspected to have played a key role in circulating the material. According to investigators, the first "guess paper" containing NEET exam questions was reportedly received on his mobile phone through an MBBS student originally from Churu and studying in Kerala.

For the last four to five years, Rakesh has been operating a consultancy office on Piprali Road in Sikar, opposite a coaching institute. The office is believed to be involved in counselling and admissions related to MBBS and other medical courses, India Today TV's Sharat Kumar reported.

IN NEET-UG 2024, 37 OF THE 50 CENTRES WITH 650+ MARKS WERE FROM SIKAR

Two years ago, the NEET-UG 2024 placed Sikar under the spotlight.

After the Supreme Court directed NTA to release centre-wise data amid allegations of irregularities and grace marks, a striking trend was noticed. Of the 50 exam centres with the highest percentage of students scoring above 650 marks, 37 were located in Sikar district, reported The Hindu newspaper in 2024.

More than 2,000 students from Sikar reportedly scored above 650 marks in NEET-UG 2024. Eight of the top 10 centres, ranked by percentage of high scorers, were located in the district.

According to the NTA, 149 students from Sikar scored over 700 out of 720 marks, nearly double that of Kota (74 students). A student even scored a perfect 720.

While coaching institutes have projected the results as proof of Sikar's academic excellence and disciplined ecosystem, critics raised questions over the unusual clustering of top scores in one district.

"Sikar, along with Patna and Hazaribagh, was the epicentre of the NEET 2024 controversy," Keshav Agarwal, Vice President of the Coaching Federation of India, told India Today TV. "Why didn't the probe agencies camp in Sikar to ensure that no paper leaks took place?" asked Agarwal.

SIKAR SURFACED IN PAPER LEAK INCIDENTS EVEN BEFORE 2024, 2026 NEET CONTROVERSIES

The NEET-UG 2026 controversy or the one in 2024, is not the first time Sikar has found itself under scrutiny over examination irregularities.

Over the past several years, the district has repeatedly appeared in investigations linked to paper leaks, recruitment exam scams, suspicious "guess papers" and coaching-linked malpractice networks.

One of the biggest controversies linked to Sikar was the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET) 2021 paper leak case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), while probing alleged money laundering connected to the REET leak, carried out raids at Kalam Academy in Sikar in 2023. The searches targeted the coaching institute located on Nawalgarh Road, along with linked premises in Jaipur, Nagaur and other districts.

The ED investigation was triggered by FIRs registered by the Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group (SOG), which alleged that leaked papers and exam-related material were circulated through organised networks involving middlemen, coaching-linked operators and financial transactions running into crores.

The ED seized documents, electronic devices and financial records during the raids. At least seven rounds of searches were conducted in 2023, including fresh action in August and October that year, reported The Times of India.

The 2022 Senior Teacher Grade II recruitment examination conducted by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) also triggered a controversy. The general knowledge paper was leaked hours before the exam. Authorities were forced to cancel the exam and launch a large-scale probe.

In 2015, a police team probing the Army recruitment exam paper leak arrested Manoj Sharma, director of a coaching institute in Rajasthan's Sikar, after they alleged that leaked papers were circulated to aspirants through coaching networks and WhatsApp groups from operators in the southern Rajasthan town, reported The Times of India.

Though arrests in the case were made in several districts, including Udaipur, the larger money laundering investigation linked to the recruitment scam extended to Sikar-based coaching-linked institutes as well.

Now, after Sikar surfaced in back-to-back exam-related irregularity controversies, the spotlight on the district has only been cemented. While Sikar might not have been identified as the origin point in every case, multiple reports and investigations have repeatedly pointed to its ecosystem of coaching institutes, hostels, counsellors and educational intermediaries as a major distribution avenue for suspicious "guess papers" and leaked material.

Amid the latest NEET controversy, one can only question if Sikar's extraordinary NEET success stories are just the results of academic excellence. Or does it reflect vulnerabilities in India's government examination ecosystem, which authorities have failed to tackle even after repeated red-flags? The question needs to be answered because it involves the future of millions of India's students.