NEET Leak Probe: CBI Takes Nashik Resident Into Custody as Rajasthan Connection Deepens
The National Testing Agency on Tuesday cancelled the NEET (UG) 2026 exam held on May 3 amid allegations of paper leak, with the government asking the CBI to carry out a comprehensive inquiry into the "irregularities"
New Delhi, Mumbai: The CBI on Tuesday evening took into its custody one Shubnam Khairnar from Nashik in Maharashtra in connection with the alleged NEET paper leak, an official said. The crime branch unit 2 of Nashik police detained Khairnar, resident of Nandgaon in the district, following a request from Rajasthan Police. He was picked up from Indiranagar of the city, said DCP Kirankumar Chauhan.
From all available indications, Khairnar apparently copied the questions from the press were the question paper was printed, and sent it to a doctor in Haryana. The paper then found its way to Sikar in Rajasthan, the new hub of tutorial colleges. There, it was broken up and distributed as “guess papers”. Suspicion arose when a hostel owner found that the guess papers tallied with the NEET question paper.
According to the National Testing Agency, inputs regarding alleged malpractice activity were received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination, and were escalated to central agencies on the morning of May 8 for “independent verification and necessary action”.
Vishal Bansal, additional airector feneral (ADG) of the Rajasthan Police's SOG, had said on Monday that a probe is currently focused on a “guess paper” that was allegedly circulated among students ahead of the examination.
“Regarding the various misconceptions surrounding the NEET, let me clarify one specific point: there is a guess paper containing approximately 410 questions. Out of these, it is alleged that roughly 120 questions appeared in Chemistry,” Bansal had said.
While the chemistry paper in the exam carries 45 questions, the test used four sets of question papers.
“It is reported that this guess paper had been circulating among the students well in advance; it began reaching them as early as 15 days to a month prior to the actual examination. We are investigating on the basis of the guess paper and it is also available in open domain,” he had said.
Rajasthan Special Operations Group inspector General Ajay Pal Lamba said the police had questioned more than 150 students, their parents and friends to establish the case.
Meanwhile, the alleged paper leak may have links extending to Latur in central Maharashtra, where a parent of a student who appeared for the exam lodged a complaint at the superintendent of police's office on Tuesday, a police official said.
According to the complaint, a private coaching institute in Latur reportedly conducted a mock test for its students before the examination. As many as 42 questions from the mock test were allegedly found to be identical to those asked in the actual examination, it claimed. Superintendent of [olice Amol Tambe directed sub-divisional police pfficer (SDPO) Sameersingh Salve to conduct an immediate inquiry and initiate legal action against those found guilty.
