The country’s biggest medical entrance exam, NEET-UG 2026, has finally been cancelled. On May 3, 22.79 lakh students took this exam amid tight security; However, now an alleged ‘guess paper’ has come into the notice of investigating agencies, raising serious questions on the credibility of the entire system. The guess paper, which originated from Churu in Rajasthan and reportedly reached students through a network of coaching centers and WhatsApp groups, has now emerged as the main reason for the cancellation of India’s biggest entrance exam.
What was this ‘guess paper’?
According to the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police, it was a hand-written document containing around 410 questions. Investigation revealed that about 120 of these questions had appeared exactly in the real exam of NEET-UG 2026. SOG Additional Director General Vishal Bansal said that this guess paper was circulating among the students long before the examination. He said that this paper had reached the students 15 days to a month before the exam date.
A lot of similarities were found in the questions of Biology and Chemistry.
The Chemistry section of the NEET exam consists of 45 questions; However, this exam was conducted in four different sets. The investigating agencies have reported that “shocking similarities” have been found in more than 100 questions from the Biology and Chemistry sections. According to officials involved in the investigation, around 600 marks out of the total 720 marks allotted for the exam may be affected due to these similar questions.
How did this paper reach Sikar from Kerala?
Investigation revealed that this guess paper was originally prepared by an MBBS student from Churu, who was pursuing medical studies in a college in Kerala. It is alleged that on May 1, he had sent this document to an acquaintance of his living in Sikar, Rajasthan. Subsequently, the manager of a paying guest (PG) accommodation in Sikar distributed the material among the students living there. Gradually, this content quickly spread through coaching networks and WhatsApp groups. The chat logs obtained by the investigating agencies were also found tagged “forwarded many times”. This network had spread only 42 hours before the exam.
According to police sources, this “guess paper” was spread widely only about 42 hours before the examination. Initially, it was said that it would be sold for ₹5 lakh. However, a day before the exam, its price had increased to around ₹30,000. By 11 May, 13 suspects were detained from Dehradun in Uttarakhand, as well as Sikar and Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan. Central agencies are now investigating this entire network.
A stain on India’s biggest exam
NEET-UG is conducted for admission to medical courses like MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BHMS and BUMS across the country. In terms of the number of students appearing for it, it is the largest entrance examination in India. This year, the exam was conducted on May 3 from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm in pen-and-paper mode. The examination was conducted in 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad, in which 2.279 million students participated.
