Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The NEET-UG question paper leak took place in April 2026, weeks before the May 3 examination, when three subject experts contracted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) extracted questions while working on the confidential translation, back-translation and proofreading process, according to details of the CBI chargesheet accessed by India Today TV.
The CBI has identified the three experts as Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, who handled Botany and Zoology, Pralhad Vithalrao Kulkarni, also known as PV Kulkarni, who worked on Chemistry and Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, who handled Physics.
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Unlike a leak involving printed test booklets being taken out of a printing press, the questions were extracted during the preparatory stages and then passed on through handwritten notes, oral dictation and photographs, the investigation found.
The NEET-UG 2026 exam held on May 3 was cancelled by the NTA following the paper leak and a re-examination for all candidates was subsequently conducted on June 21.
QUESTIONS DICTATED AT ‘SPECIAL REVISION SESSIONS’
According to CBI, Chemistry expert Kulkarni and Biology expert Mandhare organised unauthorised and covert “special revision sessions” at their residences in Pune in April.
During these sessions, they dictated exact questions, multiple-choice options and the correct answers to candidates. Those attending the sessions wrote down the questions and answers in notebooks.
The Physics questions followed a separate route. According to the investigation, Havaldar dictated questions to coaching faculty in Pune, Tejas Harshadkumar Shah, who wrote them down by hand. The handwritten material was subsequently photographed, allowing the questions to be circulated further.
Havaldar had saved Shah’s number in her phone under the contact name “God”.
Shah photographed the handwritten questions and shared them with Professor Shivraj Motegaonkar, director of the Renukai Career Centre (RCC) in Maharashtra’s Latur.
Investigators also traced an online transfer by Shah to a mobile number registered in the name of Havaldar’s husband, providing a financial trail alongside the movement of the leaked questions.
CANDIDATES TAKEN TO HOSPITAL TO MEMORISE QUESTIONS
Kulkarni and Mandhare worked with Pune-based intermediary Dr Manoj Bhagwanrao Shirure, a paediatrician, to conduct sessions in which selected candidates were taken to Siddhivinayak Hospital in Latur.
At the hospital, the candidates were made to memorise the leaked question bank before appearing for the NEET-UG examination, according to the chargesheet.
The CBI later recovered Rs 5 lakh in cash from a family member of Dr Shirure during the investigation.
LEAK TRAVELS FROM MAHARASHTRA TO RAJASTHAN
The leaked questions eventually moved beyond Maharashtra through a network of intermediaries, with digital platforms being used to transmit the material across states.
According to the chargesheet, Nashik-based Shubham Khairnar established contact with Gurugram-based Yash Yadav. The leaked question sets were converted into PDF files and sent to Yadav through Telegram.
Yadav then forwarded the PDFs on Telegram to one Mangilal Biwal in Jaipur in exchange for Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12 lakh.
Biwal subsequently printed physical copies of the leaked material and distributed them among family members appearing for NEET, candidates associated with local coaching centres and private tutors.
The chain detailed by the CBI thus took the questions from the confidential NTA preparation process to handwritten notes and private revision sessions in Maharashtra, before they were converted into digital files and circulated through Telegram to intermediaries outside the state.
HANDWRITTEN NOTES MATCHED MAY 3 NEET PAPER
The CBI’s case was further backed by forensic examination of notebooks seized during raids.
Analysis by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) and a handwriting examination by the Government Examiner of Questioned Documents (GEQD) confirmed that questions written in notebooks recovered from candidates matched the actual NEET-UG question paper sets used for the examination held on May 3.
Investigators also recovered digital payment records, including online transfers linked to Havaldar’s family, along with cash seized during searches.
The forensic findings, financial transactions and seized handwritten material, according to the investigation, helped establish the chain through which questions accessed during the confidential NTA process in April were passed to candidates and intermediaries before the May 3 examination.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
