How NEET Masterminds Used Special Coaching Sessions to Leak Questions Before Exam?

As

the probe continued into the NEET 2026 exam paper leak case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has so far arrested nine accused, including two masterminds, who shared questions with the NEET aspirants in a special coaching class held in Pune. The central probe agency has arrested nine individuals from Jaipur and Sikar in Rajasthan, Gurugram in Haryana, and Nashik, Pune, and Ahilyanagar in Maharashtra.In the latest update in the NEET paper leak case, the CBI has taken a Pune-based Botany teacher, Manisha Gurunath Mandhare and a Pune-based chemistry lecturer,PV Kulkarni, into custody.

How Pune Professors Leaked Questions to NEET Aspirants?

According to the investigation, Kulkarni had access to the question papers and used to run a coaching institute in Pune, after retiring from a private university in Latur. Notably, he was on the NEET panel, which had made the question papers for the 2026 exam.The probe revealed that during the last week of April, he had mobilized students with the help of another accused, Manisha Waghmare (arrested earlier), and conducted special coaching classes for these students at his residence.He dictated the questions along with options and the correct answers during these special coaching classes. Moreover, questions dictated were handwritten by students in their notebooks and have exactly tallied with the question paper on NEET UG 2026.Meanwhile, the Botany Pune Teacher Manisha Gurunath Mandhare had full access to Botany and Zoology question papers. During April 2026, Mandhare allegedly connected with NEET aspirants through Manisha Wagmare from Pune, who had already been arrested on May 14. Mandhare is accused of organizing special coaching sessions at her residence in Pune, where she allegedly discussed and revealed several Botany and Zoology questions to students. Candidates were reportedly asked to write down the questions in notebooks and even mark them in textbooks. Investigators claim that a large number of those questions later matched the actual NEET-UG 2026 paper conducted on May 3.Over the last 24 hours, CBI teams carried out searches at six different locations across the country. They have arrested nine people in connection with the case as the investigation continues.