NEET row: Coaching centre founder’s custody extended

A Delhi court on Tuesday extended by one day the CBI custody of a coaching centre founder, Shivraj Raghunath Motegoankar, in the NEET paper leak case. Special CBI judge Ajay Gupta extended the custody after the agency submitted that further custodial interrogation was required for confrontation with other co-accused, recovery of material evidence and establishing the accused’s role. Motegoankar, the founder of Renukai Career Centre, was arrested on the evening of May 17 in Latur, and the court sent him to nine days’ CBI custody the next day. In its remand application, the CBI had said, “He is involved in the leakage and circulation of NEET UG exam questions-2026 and that, in conspiracy with other accused persons, he had received the chemistry questions and answers of the exam before the examination, i.e., on April 23, 2026.”

The CBI has arrested 11 accused in the case. Motegoankar was the tenth arrestee. Pune-based physics lecturer, Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, was sent to six-day CBI custody on Monday.

On May 12, the NTA cancelled the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET, held on May 3 for medical admissions amid allegations of paper leak. A re-examination has been scheduled for June 21.