CBI arrests NTA Biology expert in NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday (May 16) arrested a biology lecturer linked to the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) question-setting panel for the NEET-UG examination conducted on May 3.

According to officials, the arrest came after investigators questioned alleged mastermind P V Kulkarni, along with other accused in the paper leak case.

The lecturer, identified as Manisha Mandhare, was taken into custody in Delhi after being questioned at the agency’s headquarters.

Role in exam process

According to officials, Mandhare was involved in the NEET-UG examination process as a subject expert appointed by the NTA. She allegedly had full access to the Botany and Zoology sections of the question papers.

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Investigators also alleged that in April 2026, Mandhare, with the assistance of Manisha Wagmare of Pune, who was arrested on May 14, contacted prospective NEET candidates and held special coaching sessions at her residence in Pune.

During these sessions, officials claim, she dictated leaked questions and answers to selected students and allegedly collected several lakhs of rupees in fees.

Questions matched exam

Officials said many of those questions closely matched the ones that later appeared in the May 3 examination. The NEET-UG exam was later cancelled following allegations of a paper leak.

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The CBI had arrested Professor P V Kulkarni, a domain expert in chemistry from Latur on Friday. Kulkarni for years served on panels involved in setting the NEET question paper.

Exploiting his privileged access to confidential material, Kulkarni allegedly hosted special coaching classes at his house in the last week of April and dictated to his students questions, options and answers which appeared in the NEET UG paper on May 3.

CBI widens probe

"During the last week of April, 2026, he had mobilised students, with the help of another accused namely Manisha Waghmare who was arrested on May 14 by CBI," a spokesperson said in a statement.

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Students allegedly paid several lakh rupees to attend the sessions where they wrote the questions down in their notebooks and later "tallied exactly" with the actual NEET-UG paper conducted on May 3, the spokesperson said.

The federal agency has registered an FIR and formed teams to probe the alleged paper leak that resulted in the cancellation of the exam held on May 3.

NTA flags malpractice

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres.

Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA across the country.

According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractice was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the exam was held.

The NTA said the inputs were escalated to central agencies the following morning for "independent verification and necessary action."

(With agency inputs)