The Central Bureau of Investigation’s probe into the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak has revealed an alleged network involving NTA-appointed subject experts, teachers, intermediaries and students.
The CBI chargesheet and details emerging from the investigation show that the alleged leak was not limited to one person or one location and investigators have traced a chain that began with people who had access to examination material and moved through private coaching sessions and middlemen before reaching candidates.
The NEET-UG 2026 examination was conducted on May 3 but was cancelled by the National Testing Agency on May 12 following allegations of a paper leak and the CBI subsequently took over the investigation. The agency has arrested several people in connection with the case.
According to the CBI’s investigation, three subject experts connected with the NEET paper-setting process were at the centre of the alleged leak and they have been identified in reports as P.V. Kulkarni, associated with Chemistry, Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, associated with Biology, and Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, associated with Physics.
The CBI has alleged that their access to examination material was misused to provide questions to selected candidates for financial gain.
The investigation indicates that the questions were not necessarily circulated as a ready-made PDF at the initial stage, but instead, investigators found that questions were allegedly accessed and then used during special coaching sessions. Students were reportedly made to memorise or write down questions during these sessions.
This distinction is important because the alleged operation was designed to avoid creating an obvious digital trail and according to details reported from the CBI chargesheet, questions were reconstructed from what students remembered. One such reconstructed paper later became part of the wider distribution network.
Pune-based beautician Manisha Sanjay Waghmare was arrested by the CBI on May 14 and investigators have described her as an important link in the alleged network. She was accused of connecting prospective NEET candidates and their families with people involved in the leak.
The CBI has alleged that Waghmare collected questions from accused persons and passed them to other intermediaries, including Dhananjay Nivrutti Lokhande and she allegedly received money connected to the transactions. Reports based on the investigation have also said that money was transferred to her from multiple bank accounts before the examination.
One of the significant breakthroughs came from digital evidence linked to a housing society in Pune. Investigators examined records from MyGate, a security and visitor-management application used by residential societies and such systems can record information about visitors entering and leaving a housing complex.
According to reports on the CBI investigation, these records helped investigators identify students and parents who had visited the residence of chemistry teacher P.V. Kulkarni for special coaching sessions before the examination and the agency then compared these records with other digital evidence, including call-detail records and mobile-phone location information.
This gave investigators a way to connect physical meetings with communication between the accused and prospective candidates.
The alleged network then moved beyond Pune. Investigators traced links involving Dhananjay Lokhande and Nashik-based Shubham Khairnar and the CBI has alleged that leaked examination material was passed through intermediaries and eventually reached other people who intended to sell it to candidates.
In one part of the investigation, the agency found that students had been brought together for special sessions where questions were allegedly provided before the examination and the reconstructed material was subsequently circulated through the network.
The case therefore involves several layers: people allegedly having access to examination material, those arranging students, intermediaries handling the material and candidates willing to pay for it.
The investigation shows how apparently unrelated pieces of information can be combined in a paper-leak probe and visitor records from a housing society, phone calls, mobile locations, messages and financial transactions helped investigators establish links between people who had initially appeared to be separate parts of the network.
The CBI has arrested 13 people in the case, according to court proceedings reported in June. The accused include Waghmare, Lokhande, Khairnar and the subject experts allegedly connected to the examination process and allegations are still subject to judicial proceedings, and the chargesheet represents the prosecution’s case against the accused.
The investigation has consequently shifted the focus from a simple “paper leak” to an alleged organised network in which access to examination material, private coaching, money transfers and digital communication were all connected and the MyGate records, phone data and other digital evidence became crucial in helping the CBI reconstruct that chain.Sources cross-checked: CBI-related reporting from The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, PTI/ThePrint, The Tribune and PIB. The PIB has independently confirmed the CBI’s arrest of NTA-appointed Biology expert Manisha Mandhare and her alleged access to Botany and Zoology papers.