NEET paper leak: CBI files charge sheet against 13, including NTA experts

The CBI on Tuesday filed a charge sheet against 13 accused in the NEET UG 2026 paper leak case, including three paper experts, two associated with coaching centres, middlemen and a number of beneficiary candidates, officials said on Tuesday.

In its charge sheet filed before a special court, the CBI invoked charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, destruction of evidence and others under the BNS for the alleged offence of criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act and for offences under the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.

"The CBI cited 360 witnesses, 422 documents and 43 material objects in this charge sheet. All 13 chargesheeted persons are in judicial custody as on date," the agency's spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.

The agency attached digital forensic analysis reports, handwriting expert opinions and academic experts' opinions regarding leaked questions in its charge sheet.

"These reports confirmed the role of the accused in circulation of leaked questions prior to the date of examination," the spokesperson said.

The CBI was handed over the probe on May 12 regarding irregularities and allegations of paper leak in the NEET-UG 2026 Examinaton held on May 3.

The examination was cancelled and later a re-examination was held on June 21.

The NEET paper leak issue snowballed into a major political issue. A group of 'Gen Z' led by the Cockroach Janta Party launched a massive protest at Jantar Mantar, which led to the resignation of then education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

After registering the FIR, the CBI swung into action, raiding 92 locations in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and other states.

During its two-month-long probe, it unearthed the conspiracy from the source of the leak to the beneficiary candidates, leading to the "identification of the chain".

The CBI has named three arrested National Testing Agency subject experts -- PV Kulkarni (chemistry), Manisha Gurunath Mandhare (biology) and Manisha Sanjay Havaldar (physics) as accused in the case.

Manoj Shirure, a Latur-based doctor, Tejas Harshadkumar Shah, a physics faculty at Dr Abhang Prabhu Medical Academy (APMA), a Pune-based coaching centre and Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar of a Latur-based coaching centre were also arrested and named in the charge sheet, officials said.

"Several middlemen who have sourced and distributed these leaked questions have also been identified and arrested. Two individuals associated with coaching institutes have also been arrested for obtaining these leaked question papers from the above experts," the CBI spokesperson said.

The agency said the money trail analysis was done and several bank accounts, bank lockers and a demat account of the accused have been frozen.