No leak from system, CBI probing matter- NTA tells Parliamentary panel over NEET 2026 row

New Delhi: Members of Parliament on Thursday sharply questioned top National Testing Agency officials over the alleged NEET UG 2026 paper leak during a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports.

According to sources, NTA Director General Abhishek Singh told the panel that the NEET paper was “not leaked through the NTA system” and said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was probing the matter.

The panel had summoned senior officials from the Union Education Ministry, including Education Secretary Vineet Joshi, along with NTA Chairperson Pradeep Kumar Joshi and Director General Abhishek Singh. During the meeting, the officials reportedly made a detailed presentation on the implementation of reforms recommended in the Radhakrishnan Committee report on strengthening the examination system.

According to recent PTI report, several members of Parliament grilled top NTA officials on Thursday, with the agency's director general telling them that the NEET UG paper was not leaked through their system and the CBI is probing the matter, sources said.

During a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, several MPs questioned the National Testing Agency (NTA) officials on the steps taken by them to strengthen the exam system in order to prevent paper leaks in the future.

The panel had summoned top officials of the education ministry, including Education Secretary Vineet Joshi. The NTA officials, including Chairperson Pradeep Kumar Joshi and Director General Abhishek Singh, gave a detailed presentation on the recommendations of the Radhakrishnan Report on reforms in the agency.

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The sources said on queries from the MPs on how the National Eligibility-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) paper was leaked, Singh said it was not leaked through their system.

At this, several MPs asked him then how did the paper get leaked and what was the need to cancel the exam and hold a retest.

The NTA DG had no answer to this and instead, said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is looking into the matter.

Some opposition MPs demanded that the probe report be presented before the panel, but some of their counterparts from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) objected to this, saying the CBI is an independent body and it should be allowed to do its work.

The sources said Singh gave a detailed presentation on the implementation of the steps recommended by the Radhakrishnan Report on NTA reforms and informed that around 70 per cent of the short-term measures suggested have already been implemented.

The NTA officials told the members of the panel that steps are being taken to evolve a foolproof examination system and a comprehensive review is being conducted. They also said credible people should be involved in the paper setting and distribution system.

The NTA officials said holding the NEET through a computer-based testing (CBT) platform is being considered and future exams could be conducted through this mode.

The MPs are learnt to have raised the issue of a shortage of staff and filling vacancies in the NTA to ensure that the agency functions efficiently and leakages are prevented.

The sources said the NTA informed the members of the committee that there is a staff shortage of around 25 per cent in the agency currently and steps are being taken systematically to fill up all such vacancies to plug any loophole.

After the meeting, the chairperson of the parliamentary panel, Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, said, "Whatever discussions happen in the parliamentary committee, we are under oath and we cannot discuss it."

He later said, "The meeting went off very well. We got inputs from all the members. The members expressed their concerns over the NEET paper leak."

Earlier, listing out the steps taken by the NTA and the government to prevent breaches and malpractices, the officials of the agency said detailed standard operating procedures (SOPs) and checklists for breach management in both PPT and CBT modes have been sent to stakeholders and the collaboration established with the state or district administrations for conducting high-stake examinations and reporting malpractices are being actively monitored on social-media platforms.

The NTA informed the panel that the NEET (UG) 2026 was conducted by it on May 3 at 5,432 centres in 565 cities (including 14 cities abroad). The examination was conducted in 13 languages and more than 22.7 lakh candidates had registered, with over 22.05 lakh appearing in the examination.

The medical-entrance exam was cancelled recently amid allegations of paper leak. A re-test is scheduled to be held on June 21.

Also Read:NEET UG 2026 Paper Leak: Mid-Interrogation Phone Call Uncovers Alleged Multi-State Network

This came in the backdrop of the probe by the Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group, which reportedly found a “guess paper” containing more than 100 questions similar to those asked in the NEET UG examination. The question paper series under scrutiny has been described as a “guess paper” which reportedly contained around 410 questions. Out of these, nearly 120 questions are alleged to have appeared in the Biology and Chemistry sections of the examination.

The investigation found that the leaked papers were circulated through WhatsApp and Telegram groups ahead of the NEET UG 2026 examination held on May 3. According to reports, the matter came to light after a Sikar-based MBBS student studying at a medical college in Kerala allegedly shared a PDF of a “guess paper” with his father on May 2. The father, who runs a PG accommodation facility in Sikar, reportedly circulated the document further to a chemistry and a biology teacher who identified the similarities in questions.

As the investigation widened, Rajasthan SOG and later the CBI uncovered what officials described as a multi-state network involving students, coaching-linked persons and middlemen. The alleged leak reportedly spread from Kerala and Rajasthan to Haryana, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and other states.

The NEET UG 2026 exam was conducted on May 3 by the National Testing Agency and was held from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM in pen-and-paper mode. Over 22.7 lakh aspirants appeared for the examination this year. It took place across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad, covering over 5,400 centres.

However, the NTA on May 12, 2026, declared the cancellation of the examination held on May 3 and subsequently announced the re-examination on June 21, 2026.

Seeking action, the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), the Indian Medical Association Junior Doctors' Network (IMA-JDN) and United Doctors' Front (UDF) filed separate petitions before the Supreme Court demanding the replacement of NTA and strict action against the repeated paper leak incidents.