NEET paper leak scam widens as 9th suspect arrested: What we know so far

The NEET-UG 2026 question paper leak case continued to snowball as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday (May 16) apprehended another alleged mastermind. The arrested, Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, is a senior botany teacher from Pune, Maharashtra, who also served in the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) paper-setting panel for the crucial entrance test. The latest arrest took the total number of arrested suspects to nine.

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In a statement released the same day, the probe agency said that Mandhare had been apprehended following a thorough investigation.

Mandhare arrested a day after Kulkarni

Her arrest occurred one day after the CBI located and detained the purported primary conspirator in the case, chemistry instructor PV Kulkarni, also from Pune. He was also engaged in the examination process via the NTA, which provided him with access to the question papers.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court on Saturday sent Kulkarni and Manisha Wagmare, another accused in the case, to CBI custody for 10 days.

Special CBI judge Ajay Gupta placed the duo in the agency’s custody after it indicated that the two needed to be taken beyond the national capital for additional inquiry and that the broader conspiracy required examination. Appearing for the investigative body, special public prosecutor Neetu Gupta sought a 14-day remand for their interrogation.

Both accused academics took Waghmare's help

On Waghmare, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions said in a press release on Friday (May 15) that Kulkarni allegedly mobilised students with the help of the former during the last week of April and held special coaching classes for those students at his house in Pune. Waghmare, who runs a beauty parlour in Pune, was also allegedly roped in by Mandhare for the same purpose. Waghmare was arrested on Thursday (May 14).

According to reports, Mandhare enlisted the help of Waghmare to recruit affluent medical aspirants.

The CBI reported that Mandhare had unrestricted access to the Botany and Zoology sections of the examination papers.

During her coaching sessions, she purportedly discussed various botany and zoology questions, instructed students to record them in their notebooks, and highlighted them in their textbooks. The agency said the majority of those questions tallied with the actual question paper of the examination held on May 3.

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Investigators claimed that Mandhare shared the questions and answers with selected students and took fees worth several lakhs.

On Kulkarni, the agency said that he dictated the questions along with options and the correct answers during these special coaching classes, and the questions so dictated were handwritten by students in their notebooks and have exactly tallied with the actual question paper.

Other accused also sent to CBI custody

On Friday, the Delhi court had sent Dhananjay Lokhande, another accused in the case, to CBI custody for six days. He is an Ayurveda practitioner from Ahilyanagar, Maharashtra.

On Thursday, five others, Shubham Khairnar from Nashik, Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal from Jaipur, and Yash Yadav from Gurugram, were sent to CBI custody till May 20.

Arrests have also been made in Delhi, Gurugram, Jaipur and Nashik.

So far, the CBI has stated that the investigation revealed that two versions of question papers, one in handwriting and the other typed, were leaked from the NTA and that Kulkarni and Mandhare were purportedly accountable, Hindustan Times quoted officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

NTA gets new officials

In another development, the Centre on Saturday appointed two each joint secretaries and joint directors in the NTA, which has come under scrutiny over the leak scam.

Anuja Bapat, a 1998-batch officer of the Indian Statistical Service, and Ruchita Vij, a 2004-batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Indirect Taxes), will be new joint secretaries in the NTA for five years, an order issued by the Personnel Ministry said.

Also read: NEET-UG 2026: How NTA, the agency built to fix exams, kept breaking them

Akash Jain, an Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) officer, and Aditya Rajendra Bhojgadhiya, an Indian Audit and Accounts Service officer, have been named joint directors in the NTA, the ministry said in a separate order.

The NEET-UG 2026 exam was cancelled on Tuesday (May 12) amid allegations of paper leak. A re-examination will be held on June 21.

Opposition protests

The Opposition Congress held a protest in Latur in Maharashtra on Saturday against the paper leak and sought the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Protesters from the Youth Congress and National Students Union of India gathered at the local Ugyog Bhavan and submitted a memorandum to the collector. They asserted that the paper leak had caused severe academic and financial losses to lakhs of students and betrayed the trust of sincere aspirants.

NEET के 22 लाख बच्चों के साथ धोखा हुआ है। पर मोदी जी एक शब्द भी नहीं बोल रहे।

धर्मेंद्र प्रधान जी को अभी हटाइए, या जवाबदेही ख़ुद लीजिए।

Modi ji, SACK Dharmendra Pradhan ji NOW. pic.twitter.com/6FRMMa8AI8

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 16, 2026

Lok Sabha’s Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi also spoke out on the matter in a video message on X on Saturday that “22 lakh NEET kids have been cheated” and demanded the ouster of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Protests were also held by Left youth organisations such as the All India Democratic Youth Organisation and Students Federation of India over the scam in cities such as Kolkata, West Bengal, and Guwahati, Assam, on Saturday.

In New Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj met on Saturday the family of a NEET aspirant who allegedly died by suicide at her residence at the capital's Azarpur area on Friday. Bharadwaj said the student had been preparing for admission to MBBS courses for several years and claimed she was under stress after reports of the paper leak surfaced.

(With agency inputs)