NEET leak: Court extends judicial custody of 10 accused

A Delhi court on Monday extended the judicial custody of 10 accused arrested in connection with the NEET-UG 2026 examination leak till July 11.
Special Judge Vijeta Singh Rawat was hearing the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) plea filed by Special Public Prosecutor VK Pathak to extend their custody for further investigation in the case and allowed the plea.

Ten of the 13 accused arrested in the case were produced virtually before the court after their judicial custody ended on Monday. The court extended the judicial custody of Yash Yadav, Mangilal Biwal, Dinesh Biwal, Vikas Biwal, Dhananjay Lokhande, Tejas Harshad Shah, Shubham Khairnar, Manisha Waghmare, Manisha Havaldar and Dr Manoj Shirure. From the remaining three accused, the alleged kingpin P V Kulkarni and Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar have already been sent to judicial custody till July 8. Another accused, Manisha Gurunath Mandhare was sent to 14 days’ judicial custody till June 30 by the court. On May 12, the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET-UG, held on May 3 for medical admissions amid allegations of paper leak. A re-exam was conducted on June 21.

More than 20 lakh medical aspirants took a second shot at the NEET re-exam after the original test was cancelled due to paper leaks, an issue that became a hot potato for the Government.
The CBI registered a case in connection with the paper leak based on a written complaint received from the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education.
The agency in a statement said that it has registered an FIR regarding the alleged irregularities and paper leak in the conduct of NEET-UG  Exam for offences including criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, theft and destruction of evidence and offences under the Public Examination Prevention of Unfair Means Act, 2024.