NEET-UG 2026 case: CBI links leak to teachers who set paper, did translation work

NEW DELHI: NEET-UG 2026 was compromised after the same set of individuals was entrusted with both question-setting and translation, exposing a key procedural lapse.The teachers entrusted with setting and translating the NEET-UG 2026 question paper allegedly memorised the final questions, reconstructed them from memory and shared them with a select group of students attending their private coaching classes, PTI cited as sources revealed.The paper setters — chemistry teacher P V Kulkarni, physics teacher Manisha Gurunath Mandhare and biology teacher Manisha Sanjay Havaldar — were responsible for both preparing the question paper and translating it into Marathi, giving them prolonged access to the final version ahead of the May 3 examination.Although the experts were kept in a sanitised environment during the paper preparation process, they were allowed to return home each day, the statement reads. During this period, they allegedly reconstructed the questions from memory and shared them with a select group of students, marking them as "very important" without revealing they were from the upcoming NEET examination.CBI may recommend changesInvestigators said the questions later spread beyond the coaching classes after local beautician Manisha Waghmare allegedly obtained the reconstructed question bank from some students. She allegedly typed the questions into a paper-like format and sold them to Dhananjay Nivrutti Lokhande, who circulated them through a network of middlemen across multiple states in exchange for lakhs of rupees.The agency has informally conveyed the issue to the National Testing Agency (NTA) and is likely to recommend separating the two responsibilities in its formal recommendations.The incident came into light after one aspirant received the purported question paper and alerted the NTA, which cancelled the NEET-UG 2026 examination on May 12.The Union education ministry subsequently handed the probe to the CBI, which arrested 13 people, including the three subject experts, Waghmare, coaching institute associates and alleged middlemen.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.