CBI chargesheet says NTA experts leaked NEET questions for cash

The Story in Brief

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case, alleging that three subject experts from the National Testing Agency (NTA) exploited security lapses to leak exam questions for money. The accused are P V Kulkarni (chemistry), Manisha Gurunath Mandhare (zoology and botany), and Manisha Sanjay Havaldar (physics). The CBI says they breached confidentiality, conducted illegal coaching, and reconstructed questions from memory after leaving NTA's Okhla office. The agency used data from the Mygate access-control app at Kulkarni's Pune housing society, WhatsApp chats, and call records to trace the leak. A beautician, Manisha Waghmare, allegedly planted students in the classes and sold the papers through middlemen. The leaked material matched up to 85% of the final exam sets, the CBI found.

The CBI has invoked charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including criminal breach of trust, which carries life imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore. The agency flagged multiple lapses at NTA's confidential wing: no frisking of experts, no live CCTV monitoring, and a lack of compartmentalisation that allowed the same experts to handle paper setting, translation, and back-translation. The NTA cancelled the 3 May exam and re-conducted it on 21 June. Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned after the leak.