Jaipur: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday took over the probe into the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case after Rajasthan Police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) uncovered what officials described as a large interstate network involved in selling leaked exam questions.
NEET 2026 paper leak
According to investigators, the leaked paper was circulated in the form of a “guess paper” and sold for amounts ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh per copy.
A CBI team reached the SOG headquarters in Jaipur late Tuesday night to question suspects detained during the investigation.
‘Guess paper’ contained NEET-UG 2026 questions
Officials said the “guess paper” allegedly included all 90 biology questions and 45 chemistry questions that appeared in the May 3 NEET-UG examination.
“These questions were hidden inside a guess paper containing over 400 questions,” a senior SOG official was quoted as saying by TOI.
The CBI registered an FIR based on a complaint by the Union education ministry’s department of higher education. The CBI invoked charges related to criminal conspiracy, cheating, theft, destruction of evidence, corruption, and violations under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
Pan-India mafia
The investigators said the network stretched across Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and Kerala. The paper was allegedly circulated from Jaipur, Sikar, and Gurgaon to cities such as Nashik and Pune.
3rd year student detained
Police in Nashik detained a 27-year-old suspect from Nandgaon who allegedly tried to avoid detection by changing his appearance.
“He will be handed over to Rajasthan Police once their team arrives in Nashik,” DCP Kirankumar Chavan said.
Sources claimed the suspect was a third-year Bachelor of Ayurveda Medicine and Surgery student in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore and worked part-time as a career counsellor in Nashik.
Officials ignored tip
The investigation reportedly gained momentum after a resident from Rajasthan’s Sikar alerted authorities about the suspicious “guess paper”. After local action was allegedly delayed, the individual emailed the National Testing Agency.
Officials later compared the material with the official NEET-UG paper and found several matching questions.
One of the first people questioned by the CBI was Sikar resident Rakesh Mandawaria, described by investigators as a “paper solver” and “consultant”. The Rajasthan SOG detained him on May 8 after he allegedly claimed that around 120 questions from a “guess paper” he had distributed to clients appeared in the NEET-UG examination. Following this, a teacher from a coaching institute lodged a complaint at the Udyog Nagar police station in Sikar.
“We have questioned 150 students and 70 others so far,” an SOG official said. “We suspect the questions were meant to be shared with only a few select buyers, but greed took over and someone leaked them outside the designated network.”