NEET-UG 2026 Paper Leak Investigation and Network

The NEET-UG 2026 paper leak. It’s really opened up a whole can of worms now. The CBI has managed to arrest ten people so far. Professors, a beautician, medical students, even a coaching institute operator. Investigators are still trying to figure out the whole chain of how that exam paper got leaked and then circulated.

The latest bust came Monday. They took Shivraj Motegaonkar into custody. He runs a coaching institute over in Latur, Maharashtra. That made him the tenth person caught in this whole mess.

What they’re uncovering is this alleged network. It spans Maharashtra, Haryana, and Rajasthan. Teachers, middlemen, students, all coaching operators involved. Who exactly are these people?

One name keeps popping up as someone high up. PV Kulkarni. He’s a retired chemistry lecturer from Latur. He was working in Pune when he got arrested. Investigators pegged him as the mastermind.

Kulkarni allegedly had access to the whole NEET process through the National Testing Agency, NTA. That meant he had access to sensitive material.

The story gets darker when you look at how the questions got out. Reports suggest Kulkarni shared multiple-choice answers and correct responses during those special coaching sessions. Students reportedly wrote everything down in their notebooks. And those notes? They allegedly matched the actual NEET-UG 2026 question paper.

Then there’s Manisha Gurunath Mandhare. A senior Botany teacher from Pune. The CBI claims she was part of the NTA panel that prepared the medical entrance papers. She supposedly had complete access to the Botany and Zoology sections.

She allegedly discussed those Botany and Zoology questions in the coaching classes. Asking students to write them down in their books. The agency believes that information ended up right there in the final exam paper.

It wasn't just the teachers. The network stretched further. Manisha Waghmare, who runs a beauty parlour in Pune. She was arrested back in May, on the 14th. She allegedly helped mobilize students for those coaching sessions run by Kulkarni and Mandhare.

Waghmare acted as the link. Connecting students and families to the other players in this group in exchange for money. People were paying for assured success in the medical entrance exam.

Dhananjay Lokhande from Ahilyanagar, Maharashtra, was also caught up in this. He was involved in the operation. Waghmare allegedly connected students and parents to him.

The trail leads to Nashik next. Police arrested Shubham Khairnar, a 27-year-old BAMS student, from his home in Indiranagar.

Khairnar’s story is wild. He allegedly paid ten lakh rupees for a packet containing the NEET question paper from Lokhande.

But he didn't stop there. During interrogation, Khairnar told the cops something else. He claimed he sent that paper electronically to someone in Gurugram, Haryana. He got fifteen lakh back.

That material then allegedly moved on. It reached Yash Yadav, who was based in Gurugram. Yadav then sold it off. To Mangilal Biwal, who lives in Jaipur. Mangilal Khatik, that’s his name. He claimed nearly 150 questions matched the final exam. Yadav was arrested too.

The investigation then swung toward the family in Rajasthan. Dinesh Biwal’s family.

Officials got suspicious because several members of this family secured spots in government medical colleges, despite having average academic records. That felt wrong.

Last week, the CBI finally arrested Dinesh Biwal, his brother Mangilal Biwal, and Mangilal’s son Vikas.

Mangilal allegedly got the leaked paper from Yash Yadav via Telegram on April 29th.

Then Mangilal started distributing copies. Printed versions of the leaked paper. To his son Aman Biwal, Dinesh’s son Rishi, and their niece Gunjan. Gunjan was the daughter of their older brother, Ghanshyam. All three reportedly sat for the NEET exam on May 3rd.

Dinesh and Mangilal had a background in money lending and real estate in the Jamwa Ramgarh area of Jaipur. They moved to Sikar about five years ago, taking seven kids with them to prep for NEET.

The biggest name surfacing now is Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar. He’s the founder of Renukai Career Centre, RCC. Everyone knows him as “Motegaonkar Sir’s classes.”

For nearly twenty years, that coaching network operated across Maharashtra, preparing students for medical and engineering entrance tests.

CBI officials said Motegaonkar was part of this organized syndicate. Involved in the paper leak operation itself.

Investigators actually recovered the NEET question paper from his mobile phone. It was found there.

He allegedly got the paper on April 23rd. That was almost ten days before the actual exam happened on May 3rd.

After all this chaos, the NTA had to cancel the NEET UG 2026 exam. It was held on May 3rd. Now they’re pushing for a re-exam. It’s scheduled for June 21st. That’s from 2 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.