NEET Leak Case: Court Issues Notice to CBI Seeking a Response to Manisha Waghmare's Bail Plea

The Rouse Avenue Court on Saturday issued notice to the CBI on Manisha Waghmare's bail plea. She has been arrested in the NEET UG paper leak case. After 10 days in CBI custody, she has been remanded in judicial custody.

Special Judge (CBI) Ajay Gupta issued notice to the CBI and sought a response on the bail plea of Manisha Waghmare. Her bail will be heard on June 5. The bail application has been filed through Advocate Shreyas Gacche and Shubham Gawande. She is in judicial custody till June 9 after the CBI interrogation in the NEET UG paper leak case.

The CBI has alleged that Manisha Waghmare and Prahalad Kulkarni were in conspiracy in obtaining and distributing the leaked NEET UG exam paper. It is alleged that Kulkarni was in contact with Manisha Waghmare through Manisha Mandhare.

The CBI has alleged that Prahalad Kulkarni is a retired teacher of Chemistry who distributed the exam paper to various people through Manisha Waghmare. She gave the examination paper to Dhananjay Lokhande of Pune. She was in contact with Dhananjay. They are from Pune, Maharashtra. Prahalad Kulkarni provided the NEET UG paper through Manisha Waghmare, the CBI had said.

The CBI had sought the custody of Waghmare and Kulkarni to investigate the larger conspiracy and to arrest other accused involved in the leakage of the exam paper. The CBI had stated that it wanted "to identify locations where questions were revealed to certain candidates". Special Judge (CBI) Ajay Gupta had granted 10 days' custody of Manisha Waghmare and Prahalad Kulkarni on May 16 to the CBI to investigate the case.

Counsel for Manisha Waghmare had said that the custody is illegal. She was kept in illegal custody by the Pune Police on the instructions of the CBI. It was also submitted that Manisha has been arrested on the basis of the disclosure statement of Dhananjay Lokhande and that there is no other evidence against her. Conversely, the CBI counsel had said that there is evidence to show that Prahalad Kulkarni distributed the exam paper to various people through Manisha Waghmare.

As per the investigation conducted by CBI, Dhananjay Lokhande, known to the accused Shubham, collected the NEET examination 2026 material from co-accused Manisha Waghmare, a resident of Pune. After receiving the NEET examination paper 2026, he further transmitted the same to the accused Shubham Madhukar Khairnar.

During the investigation, it has also come to light that, in regard to the leaked question paper circulation, there have been banking transactions of approximately Rs 6 lakh between him and his relative and co-accused, Shubham Madhukar Khairnar. Further, in this regard, certain incriminating material, i.e. bank statements, electronic evidence, etc., has also been collected during the investigation.

The CBI Prosecutor had said that it has come to light that the accused Shubham Madhukar Khairnar had obtained the said paper from the accused Lokhande, who had obtained the same from the co-accused Manisha Waghmare. Allegedly, accused Shubham Khairnar had obtained the said leaked question paper for the purpose of selling the same for monetary gain and subsequently, he facilitated accused Yash Yadav for distribution of leaked NEET (UG) 2026 question paper and accordingly, on April 29, accused Yash Yadav got the pdf files of the NEET question papers through Telegram which pdf files containing the question paper of Physics, Chemistry and Biology have already been recovered.

It is alleged that Shubham obtained the said paper on April 4 from Dhananjay, who obtained the same from his alleged NTA source. Shubham made a deal with the said Dhananjay for purchasing the leaked question paper and for the purpose of selling the paper in lieu of money. Shubham made a deal of Rs 15 lakh with Yash Yadav.

It was also submitted that CBI has recovered WhatsApp chats of Yash Yadav with Shubham from the mobile phone of Yash Yadav. Though Shubham intentionally deleted the incriminating evidence, his mobile phone was seized for forensic examination.

As per the CBI investigation conducted by CBI, it has come to light that Shubham Khairnar facilitated the accused Yash Yadav for the distribution of the leaked NEET (UG) 2026 question paper and accordingly, on April 29, accused Yash Yadav got the pdf files of the NEET question papers through Telegram, which PDF files containing the question paper of Physics, Chemistry and Biology have already been recovered.

Allegedly, after accused Yash Yadav (Gurgaon) received the leaked question paper, he struck a deal with accused Mangilal Khatik for consideration of Rs 10 lakh. The CBI alleged that Accused Mangilal circulated printed copies of the leaked question paper to the friend of his son Vikas Biwal, besides providing the same to his other son and cousin. Accused Mangilal also got the answers to the leaked question paper from a teacher in lieu of money. The leaked question paper, as well as other incriminating evidence, has been recovered from the mobile phone of the accused.

Also Read: Technical Glitch Delays CUET UG 2026, NTA Shares Revised Timing