NEW DELHI, Aug 7: The Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) charge-sheet filed on Friday in the paper leak case of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test – Under Graduate (NEET–UG) examination for medical admissions, has brought out several major revelations.
The investigative agency has claimed that the questions were leaked three to eight days prior to the May 3 exam and were disseminated to students via WhatsApp, Telegram, and offline classes.
According to the CBI, the entire matter involved subject experts associated with the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conduct the examination, teachers operating the coaching centres, middlemen and various other individuals.
Chemistry subject expert PV Kulkarni conducted “special classes” in Pune between April 25 and 27, despite having taken an oath of secrecy. Students attending these classes were allegedly dictated the exact questions and answers that later appeared in the NEET exam. Similar special classes were also provided to students in Latur.
The CBI investigation claims that records from the “MyGate” app, mobile location data, and call detail records confirm that students visited Kulkarni’s residence. The questions noted in the students’ notebooks match the leaked paper as per the CBI. It is also claimed that photographs of Chemistry questions, conversations with candidates and their parents, and other crucial digital evidence were recovered from Kulkarni’s mobile phone.
The CBI further stated that after the exam, a parent contacted Kulkarni and expressed a desire to gift him a watch, as the questions predicted by him had indeed appeared in the test. The investigation also revealed that Kulkarni had attempted to obtain the Physics paper as well.
Physics subject expert Manisha Hawaldar is accused of leaking Physics questions in exchange for Rs 25,000, despite having taken an oath of secrecy. Investigations indicate that handwritten questions were present on her mobile phone eight days before the exam. She dictated these questions to another accused, Tejas Shah, who was responsible for passing them on.
According to the CBI, Manisha Waghmare acted as a link between the students and the subject experts within the network. They collected up to Rs 4 lakh from parents to send students to offline classes, gathered the funds, and later shared physics questions via WhatsApp. It is alleged that an additional Rs 50,000 was demanded if those specific questions appeared in the exam.
In the meantime, Manisha Gurunath Mandare is accused of conducting biology classes at her home. She had students mark specific paragraphs in the new NCERT textbooks and note down questions. Later, she also obtained copies of the leaked physics questions.
According to the CBI, the leaked paper was also circulated to a large number of students through a coaching network operating in Sikar, Rajasthan. It is alleged that on the night of May 2—prior to the exam—a PDF file was distributed among 40 to 50 students. A coaching operator circulated it among the students, claiming it was the “most likely question paper.” After the exam, students recorded videos claiming that the very same questions had appeared in the test.
The investigation has also uncovered several WhatsApp groups—including those named “NEET 2026” and “FIFA World Cup 2026″—through which questions and other information were allegedly shared. The CBI states that the accused used code names to conceal their identities. Code names like “Kailash” and “Shivalik” were used for the NTA’s master sets, while one accused had saved an associates number under the name “AP Broker.”
According to the CBI charge sheet, the conspiracy to leak the paper had begun well before the exam. Students and parents were contacted as early as October 2025, and lakhs of rupees were collected in installments and the payments were made in cash in some instances and online in others.
The CBI also raised questions regarding security arrangements. According to the investigative agency, a single expert had access to all four master sets during the question paper preparation and translation process. Experts were not properly frisked, and there was no separate control room to monitor the entire premises. Questions were smuggled out by exploiting this vulnerability.
The investigation also references a report by experts from Delhi University. According to the report, the leaked Biology questions matched the official question paper by up to 90 percent, while in several sets of the Chemistry paper, the match was nearly 100 percent. This has further strengthened the CBI’s claim that the leaked questions were indeed from the actual question paper.
The CBI stated that immediately after the exam concluded on May 3, 2026, a Chemistry teacher from Sikar compared the leaked PDF with the actual question paper. Upon finding that the questions matched, he sent an email to the Director General of the NTA. This triggered a major investigation into the entire matter.
Currently, a hearing regarding the CBI’s charge sheet is underway in a Delhi fast-track court. The court will now determine the legal sections under which cognisance will be taken against the accused and decide the future course of the trial proceedings.
(Manas Dasgupta)
