How internal lapses in NTA, coaching network led to NEET 2026 paper leak? CBI probe reveals

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has revealed new details in the NEET UG 2026 paper leak case, stating that the examination was compromised due to alleged internal lapses during the paper-setting process and the involvement of a network of coaching operators and middlemen.

According to the agency, 13 people have been chargesheeted so far, including National Testing Agency (NTA) subject experts, coaching institute operators, intermediaries and a medical practitioner. The CBI has also frozen several bank accounts, lockers and a demat account while tracing the money trail.

CBI Points to Internal Lapses in Paper-Setting Process

According to the CBI, three NTA subject experts allegedly had access to the question papers while also being responsible for translating them into Marathi. The accused include Chemistry expert Kulkarni, Physics expert Havaldar and Biology expert Mandhare.

The Week reported that the CBI noted this made the 2026 NEET issue less of a "leak" and more of a serious internal lapse by the National Testing Authority (NTA), as compared to 2024, where a centre in-charge allegedly conspired with the leak racket to steal and circulate question paper sets.

Investigators said that although the experts were kept in a sanitised environment as required under NTA rules, they were allegedly allowed to leave the secure zone from where they would go to their homes, take tuition classes, and return for their duties the next day.

The agency believes this gave them enough time to memorise the questions and later recreate them from memory. CBI officials have reportedly informed the NTA that the 2026 incident appeared to be less of a conventional paper theft and more of a serious internal failure in the examination process.

According to the first chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the NEET question paper was never circulated in digital form outside a tightly controlled network. Instead, select students were allegedly made to write down questions during special coaching sessions conducted by three subject experts of the National Testing Agency (NTA).

Questions Allegedly Shared Through Coaching Sessions

The CBI alleges that instead of circulating the original question paper digitally, the three subject experts dictated questions to small batches of students during private coaching sessions. Students were reportedly asked to write down the questions by hand so that no electronic evidence would be created. The agency has seized these handwritten notes during the investigation.

"Their motive was to make money by assuring students they would help them crack the exam while simultaneously enhancing the reputation of their coaching network. Better results would attract more students and, ultimately, more money," a source told The Print.

According to the chargesheet, the questions were initially shared only with selected students who were allegedly told they were "very important" questions without being informed that they were the actual NEET examination questions.

According to the source, the leak became a large-scale commercial operation only after Waghmare reconstructed the question paper after she got hold of the students.

"She tracked down two of the students who had attended these coaching sessions and got them to type out the questions at her shop. She then reconstructed the entire paper and sold it to a person in Pune for Rs 10 lakh. That person allegedly passed it on to Nashik, where it was sold again for Rs 10-15 lakh," the source said.

"Once the paper got out, its value kept increasing. That is how the chain expanded until it eventually reached the Bilwal family in Rajasthan," the source added.

“If Waghmare had not reconstructed and circulated the paper, the leak would likely have remained confined to the select study groups coached by the three NTA subject experts, and no one would have discovered it,” one of the sources said.

Leak Spread Across Several States

The reconstructed paper was allegedly passed through multiple intermediaries before reaching students in different states. According to the CBI, Waghmare worked with co-accused Lokhande to distribute the reconstructed questions through messaging platforms, including WhatsApp.

The paper allegedly travelled from Maharashtra to Rajasthan, Haryana and Kerala, turning the case into what investigators described as a "countrywide conspiracy."

Another route described in the chargesheet states that the reconstructed paper moved from Lokhande to Nashik-based middleman Khairnar before reaching Rajasthan through Telegram.

Money Trail Under Investigation

The CBI alleged that Kulkarni earned at least Rs 21 lakh by leaking examination questions. The agency claimed that the reconstructed papers were sold through multiple intermediaries for amounts ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh.

Investigators have also traced an alleged Rs 5 lakh payment linked to the Latur-based coaching institute's wife, which was reportedly recovered from the residence of a member of the Shirure family.

Who First Alerted Authorities About the Leak?

According to the CBI, the first indication of the alleged NEET UG 2026 paper leak did not come from an investigating agency, but from a chemistry teacher in Rajasthan, as reported by Indian Express.

The agency found that on May 7, a chemistry teacher from Sikar emailed the National Testing Agency (NTA) after discovering that solved NEET question papers had allegedly been circulating before the examination.

In his email, the teacher stated that on the evening of May 3, shortly after the NEET examination ended at 6 p.m., his landlord showed him two PDF files containing question papers and asked him to compare them with the actual NEET paper.

After checking the papers, he found that the questions matched the examination paper. He then asked his colleagues to independently verify the match before reporting the matter to the NTA.

When he asked where the PDFs had come from, his landlord reportedly said that he had received them on WhatsApp from his son, a first-year MBBS student studying in Kerala.

According to the CBI, the student told his father that he had received the files on May 2 from another student who shared a room with him. The email further traced the chain to a man who allegedly demanded Rs 40,000 for the leaked paper but later agreed to Rs 30,000, which was reportedly paid through PhonePe.

The email also alleged that 450 solved questions and answers were shared at around 11 p.m. on May 2, just hours before the NEET UG examination. According to the CBI, this suggests that the alleged leaked questions had already reached students and intermediaries at least a day before the exam was conducted.

Also read- CBI files 20,000 page chargesheet against 13 accused in NEET 2026 paper leak