NEET paper leak traced back to NTA insider, CBI tells court; 2 more held

THe telephone exchange Bureau of investigating (CBI) told a new delhi margaret court on th that the NEET-UG 2026 question paper leak traces back to a source inside the National Testing Agency (NTA)— a claim the court recorded in its order, noting that Shubham Khairnar had obtained the paper from a Pune-based person who had in turn obtained it from his “NTA source”.The agency said it is now working to identify the NTA officials and other government functionaries involved in the leak.The case stems from the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 on May 12 — nine days after 2.27 million students sat the examination across 551 cities — after central agencies confirmed that the question paper had been compromised. According to the CBI’s remand plea, a PDF containing 500-600 questions — of which 180 were later found to be “precisely identical” to the actual paper — was being shared on Telegram as early as April 29, four days before the exam.The court order, passed by special judge (CBI) Ajay Kumar Gupta of Rouse Avenue courts while granting seven-day custody of five accused, cited the agency to state: “accused Shubham Khairnar had obtained the said paper from another person from Pune who had obtained the same from his NTA source.” The Pune-based person has not been named.Also Read | NEET paper leak: High-level meeting at Dharmendra Pradhan's house over NEET UG retestCBI told the court it wants to interrogate the accused “to unearth a larger conspiracy and source of the leaked NEET-UG 2026 question paper” and to further “identify the officials of NTA and other departments” involved.The five remanded to CBI custody are Yash Yadav from Gurugram, Mangilal Khatik, Vikash Biwal and Dinesh Biwal from Jaipur, and Khairnar from Nashik — all brought on transit remand from their respective states.Separately, Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar and Manisha Waghmare from Pune were arrested by CBI on Thursday.The agency conducted raids at 14 locations in the last 24 hours, recovering incriminating chats, leaked question papers and digital evidence including mobile phones from the accused. Some deleted data requires forensic examination. A CBI team also visited NTA headquarters in Delhi to collect documents. “Several other suspects are currently being examined,” a CBI spokesperson said.The remand plea lays out the chain as established so far. Khairnar, after obtaining the paper from the unnamed Pune contact, informed Yadav in April that Mangilal Khatik was ready to pay ₹10-12 lakh for leaked NEET-UG questions for his younger son.On April 29, Khairnar provided Yadav with 500-600 questions from the Physics, Chemistry and Biology papers through Telegram. Yadav was known to Mangilal’s elder son Vikash Biwal from NEET coaching in Rajasthan’s Sikar — the connection through which Mangilal accessed Yadav. The deal between Mangilal and Yadav was struck at ₹10 lakh, contingent on 150 questions from the question bank matching the NEET paper.Mangilal received the papers, had them printed, and distributed three printed sets to his younger son Vikash, other relatives and acquaintances who were to sit the examination, CBI contended. “All communication with Yash Yadav was made by Mangilal. The PDFs were printed and three printed sets were distributed,” it stated.Yadav also asked Vikash to find additional candidates for the leaked questions to recover some of the money he had spent obtaining them; Vikash shared candidate details with Yadav through WhatsApp and Instagram.Senior public prosecutor Neetu Singh submitted that CBI needed to “probe a larger conspiracy to unearth how the examination paper was leaked and how far was it distributed.” He said “the role of public servants” possibly involved in the offence was yet to be probed, as was the role of “the printing press hired by the accused persons.”CBI said the accused were required in custody “to prevent further commission of similar offences involving leakage of question papers, to identify and apprehend other co-accused persons involved in the offence.”CBI said it is focused on tracing the “NTA source” of the unnamed Pune-based person — the link that would establish how the question paper left NTA’s custody. “CBI is pursuing all the leads with regard to this case,” the agency said.The defence counsel contested the remand, arguing the arrests were illegal as the accused had not been provided grounds of arrest and that custodial interrogation was unnecessary.