NEET row: Accused Manisha Havaldar sent to CBI custody

A Delhi court sent Pune-based physics lecturer Manisha Sanjay Havaldar to six days of CBI custody in the NEET paper leak case on Monday. Special Judge Ajay Gupta allowed the CBI plea seeking six-day custodial interrogation of the accused.

During the proceedings, the agency said that Havaldar, who was working as a translator for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) (UG), along with other accused, circulated the physics questions that had come for translation.

The CBI arrested Havaldar on May 22. She was then brought before the court on transit remand. The case was registered based on a complaint by a Zirakpur-based woman, who alleged that the MLA misrepresented himself as a divorcee, entered into a relationship with her and later married in 2021 while already being married.

“It’s sad that they have not learnt their lessons. The matter travelled to this court earlier also. There was a committee, a monitoring committee, which made some recommendations, and they were accepted. We want the NTA to file an affidavit on the steps taken for compliance of recommendations suggested by the committee,” the bench said.