NEET case: CBI arrests NTA-linked lecturer, says he leaked paper in tuition class

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a Pune-based Chemistry lecturer for his alleged role as the "kingpin" behind the question paper leak that led to the cancellation of the 2026 NEET-UG entrance examination, claiming that the man leaked the questions to several aspirants during a secret tuition session.

The accused, identified as PV Kulkarni, was associated with the examination process on behalf of the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducted the now-cancelled exam, and, hence, had access to the question papers for the entrance test conducted on May 3, the central agency said on Friday.

More specifically, he was part of the panel that set the NEET question paper for years, officials said, according to news agency PTI. Kulkarni, who is a retired college professor, was taken in for questioning by the CBI on Thursday, May 14.

He, with help from another accused in the case, leaked the questions and the correct answers to a group of NEET-UG aspirants at a secret coaching session arranged at his residence in Pune during the last week of April, the CBI has said.

Kulkarni's alleged accomplice, Manisha Waghmare, was arrested on Thursday.

"The chemistry lecturer dictated the questions, multiple-choice options, and correct answers during the special coaching classes. Students noted them in their notebooks, and these questions were found to exactly match the actual NEET-UG 2026 question paper conducted on May 3, 2026," the CBI said in a statement.

The students paid several lakhs of rupees to attend the session, it added. The agency claimed that the investigation "so far has brought out the actual source of the leakage of Chemistry paper" as it referred to Kulkarni's arrest.

7 ARRESTS BY CBI SO FAR

As of Thursday, May 14, seven people were arrested by the CBI as part of the probe, which spans several states. Two of them are Mangi Lal and Dinesh Biwal--relatives and residents of Jaipur district.

The duo were in the custody of Rajasthan Police before being arrested by the CBI. They have allegedly emerged as a crucial link in the paper leak network, which supposedly spread to other parts of the country via Rajasthan's Sikar.

The family is believed to have leaked and sold medical entrance exam papers in previous years as well, sources within the police told India Today TV.

According to them, Mangi Lal and Dinesh Biwal not only leaked this year’s paper to coaching institutes in Sikar, but had also allegedly procured medical entrance exam papers for their family before selling them further to others in previous years.

NEET-UG PAPER LEAK: BRIEF OVERVIEW

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was conducted 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.

Investigations into alleged malpractices in the 2026 NEET-UG exam 2026 were first initiated by the Rajasthan Special Operations Group (SOG). The police probe had suggested that 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.