CBI Unveils Evidence in NEET-UG 2026 Paper Leak Investigation
Investigation Overview
File image of NEET aspirants at an examination centre, in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi, Aug 7: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has presented a charge sheet in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case, which is heavily supported by digital forensic evidence. This includes data from an access control application linked to a residential complex in Pune, where the accused, P V Kulkarni, a chemistry expert for the National Testing Agency (NTA), resided.
The charge sheet, submitted to a special CBI court on July 28, implicates 13 individuals and references records obtained from the app used in Kulkarni's society. These records include biometric data of students attending special coaching sessions led by him.
This application is designed to manage and log the entry and exit of visitors in gated communities.
The CBI utilized these records to confirm the presence of students and their guardians in the society during April, just days before the NEET-UG 2026 exam on May 3, coinciding with Kulkarni's stay in Pune. This evidence was further supported by call data records (CDR) and location tracking of their mobile devices.
Central to the CBI's findings are three Pune-based subject experts associated with the NTA: Kulkarni for chemistry, Manisha Gurunath Mandhare for zoology and botany, and Manisha Sanjay Havaldar for physics. They are accused of exploiting significant procedural weaknesses within the NTA to leak confidential exam questions for substantial financial gain.
The investigation led the CBI to these experts through a beautician named Manisha Sanjay Waghmare, who disseminated the leaked papers to candidates in states like Rajasthan and Haryana via a network of intermediaries, prompting a formal complaint to the NTA.
Waghmare reportedly enrolled students in the special coaching classes held in April by Kulkarni and Mandhare, collecting their notes that contained questions dictated by the instructors, with certain sections marked as important.
The CBI also identified Havaldar's involvement, who allegedly provided 16 pages of physics questions to an aspirant's mother at Mandhare's request, according to officials.
All materials obtained from the leaked papers, which were recovered from various candidates and intermediaries, were sent to an expert panel at Delhi University. Their analysis revealed that a significant portion of the material corresponded with four sets of NEET-UG 2026 papers—Kailash, Shivalik, Set 2, and Set 3—showing varying degrees of similarity.
Notably, the sets accessible to the experts exhibited the highest match rates, reaching up to 85%, while those they could not access showed minimal matches, as per the officials.
The CBI discovered that the processes of paper setting, translation, and back translation occurred within the NTA's Okhla facility, where several lapses were identified. These lapses were allegedly exploited by Kulkarni, Mandhare, and Havaldar to reconstruct the NEET question paper while back in their hotel accommodations.
Kulkarni is accused of using rough sheets to smuggle brief notes of questions and optional answers, memorizing simpler questions to recreate them daily upon returning to his hotel.
The agency claims he conducted back translations for three sets of NEET-UG 2026, with the leaked materials showing the highest correlation with these chemistry sets.
Havaldar and Waghmare reportedly relied on their memory, jotting down and marking questions in their subject textbooks after returning to their hotel rooms, according to the agency's allegations.
They were engaged in this activity on various dates between March and April, allowing them ample time to return to Pune and continue coaching, which contravenes NTA regulations.
The CBI has also implicated Shivraj Raghunath Mutgaonkar, the owner of a coaching center, as an accused. He allegedly received the question papers from Kulkarni through an intermediary and distributed them among his students for financial gain.