NEET-UG 2026 Paper Leak: CBI Arrests NTA-Appointed Expert in Physics Question Leak Case, 11th Arrest So Far

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) detained another key accused in association with the alleged leak of Physics questions in the NEET-UG 2026 examination, adding to the total number of arrests in the case to 11. 

Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, the most recent accused, was employed at Seth Hiralal Saraf Prashala in Pune, Maharashtra, and had been designated as an expert in the NEET-UG 2026 assessment procedure by the National Testing Agency (NTA). 

Physics Questions Allegedly Shared Before Exam

The CBI claims that Havaldar had full access to the Physics test questions. She allegedly shared many physics questions with co-accused Manisha Gurunath Mandhare in April 2026. Mandhare was detained earlier on May 16.

The agency claimed that the questions purportedly distributed by Havaldar later matched the Physics portion of the NEET-UG 2026 paper sets, confirming suspicions that private test information had been leaked before the test.

Mandhare, a Pune-based botany instructor, was also a member of NTA's NEET-UG 2026 expert group.

Probe Expands Across Multiple Cities

The CBI has conducted searches at various places across the nation as part of the inquiry. During these raids, authorities seized laptops, mobile phones, bank statements and other suspecting documents. According to the agency, a thorough and forensic examination of the confiscated material is presently in progress.

On May 12, 2026, the CBI received a written complaint about the purported paper leak from the Ministry of Education's Department of Higher Education.

Searches were conducted in several states and special investigation teams were established shortly after the FIR was lodged. In an effort to track down the origin and dissemination of the leaked material, investigators detained and questioned a number of people.

So far, arrests have been made from Delhi, Jaipur, Gurugram, Nasik, Pune, Latur and Ahilyanagar. 

Leak May Involve Multiple Question Sets

The most recent development coincides with growing concerns that the leak could not have been restricted to a single batch of exam papers.

Following rumors that circulating "guess papers" might have come from private backup exam paper sets, the NTA requested that the CBI explicitly look into whether Physics questions from NEET-UG 2026 were also leaked.

The extremely high number of solved questions released before to the exam leads investigators to assume that the stolen PDFs may have contained questions from various paper sets.

The leaked Chemistry document alone apparently had 104 answered questions, almost twice as many as the 45 Chemistry questions that were present in the actual exam, according to sources connected to the investigation. This raised concerns that some material could have been taken from alternate or contingency paper sets assembled in case the main paper was compromised.

Over 22 Lakh Students Appeared for NEET-UG

NEET-UG 2026 was conducted by the NTA on May 3 in pen-and-paper mode. The medical entrance exam was taken by about 2.27 million applicants. There were 180 questions in all, 45 from Chemistry and Physics and 90 from Biology.

Manisha Mandhare, a botany instructor, PV Kulkarni, a retired chemistry lecturer from Pune, and Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar, the proprietor of a coaching center in Latur, were among those detained early in the investigation. Investigators claimed that at least one week before to the test, students had already purchased Chemistry and Biology questions for up to ₹30 lakh.