New Delhi. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested an alleged kingpin in the ‘NEET-UG 2026’ paper leak case. The accused has been identified as Chemistry lecturer PV Kulkarni, who was involved in the examination process on behalf of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and had access to confidential question papers. According to the CBI, in the last week of April 2026, PV Kulkarni, with the help of Manisha Waghmare, arrested on May 14, organized students and organized special coaching classes at her residence in Pune. During these special coaching classes they prescribed questions, options and correct answers. Students wrote these questions by hand in their notebooks and these question papers exactly match the actual question paper of NEET held on May 3, 2026.
After thorough interrogation, PV Kulkarni, a resident of Latur, was arrested in Pune. In the last 24 hours, CBI has conducted search operations at several places across the country and seized several important documents, electronic devices and mobile phones. Detailed forensic and technical analysis of the seized items is underway.
Let us inform that the CBI had registered the case on May 12 on the basis of the written complaint given by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India regarding the alleged paper leak of ‘NEET UG 2026’ examination. As soon as the case was registered, special teams were formed and search operations were conducted at various places across the country and many suspects were detained and interrogated.
So far, 7 accused have been arrested from Jaipur, Gurugram, Nashik, Pune and Ahilyanagar. Five of these accused have been produced in the court and have been sent to seven-day police custody for further questioning.
CBI officials said that the investigation is ongoing and so far the source of the chemistry question paper leak has been identified. Also, the middlemen who were involved in mobilizing the students who paid lakhs of rupees to attend special coaching classes to prepare and discuss these question papers have also been identified.
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