NEET 2026 paper leak row: Alleged mastermind, 4 aspirants arrested from Dehradun

Dehradun: In a latest development in the alleged NEET 2026 paper leak controversy, the Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) in its ongoing investigation has arrested the alleged 'mastermind' from Dehradun along with four other NEET aspirants in connection.

The prime accused in the incident is a Sikar-based career counsellor, from Dehradun. TOI has reported that the SOG arrested him in Dehradun on May 7, and the action was carried out in coordination with local police and other agencies in Dehradun.

A day later, four more persons, all NEET aspirants from Dehradun, were arrested and brought to Sikar for further interrogation.

Among the five, the police said that he is accused of selling the leaked question paper to aspirants as a 'Guess Paper'. He had received it from one of the examinees in Kerala.

It is suspected that he managed to obtain probable questions of the examination paper even before it was sent for printing, ABP live has reported. 

Explaining his activities, an SOG officer, requesting anonymity told TOI, "It contained 410 questions, of which 150 appeared in the NEET exam held on May 3. He initially sold it to aspirants for Rs 5 lakh and later reduced the amount to Rs 30,000 per aspirant as the exam date approached."

Regarding the involvement of the aspirants, the officer told the Daily that the four aspirants are accused of purchasing the leaked paper from Rakesh and accordingly, all of them are currently under interrogation in Sikar.

Confirming the development, Uttarakhand Police Special Task Force chief Ajai Singh said, "We are providing all required assistance to agencies from other states probing the case. As of now, we are not conducting any separate probe of our own."

Not just this, the team also interrogated 45 individuals on Sunday. Of them, more than half are still under detention. Once the investigation is formally taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), these individuals are expected to be handed over to the central agency for further questioning.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) on May 12, 2026, informed that the Government of India decided to refer the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation for a comprehensive inquiry into the allegations after it declared to re-conduct the NEET UG 2026 examination soon. 

Medical Dialogues recently reported that the NTA declared that NEET 2026, conducted on May 3, 2026, has been cancelled and will be re-conducted on dates that will be notified separately.

On its official X (formerly Twitter) handle, the NTA posted, "In continuation of its press release dated 10 May 2026, the National Testing Agency wishes to inform candidates, parents, and members of the public of the following decisions taken in respect of NEET (UG) 2026. NTA had, on 8 May 2026, referred the matters then under consideration to the central agencies for independent verification and necessary action, consistent with its standing commitment to the fair, secure, and credible conduct of the national examinations entrusted to it. On the basis of the inputs subsequently examined by NTA in coordination with the central agencies, and the investigative findings shared by the law enforcement agencies and in order to ensure that there is transparency in the system, the National Testing Agency, with the approval of the Government of India, has decided to cancel the NEET (UG) 2026 examination conducted on 3 May 2026, and to re-conduct the examination on dates that will be notified separately."

This comes 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.