Jaipur/Pune/Nashik, May 14 -- The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested five people on Wednesday in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case, including the man investigators believe first couriered the question paper into the network - a BAMS graduate and practising doctor from Maharashtra's Ahilyanagar who was also doing medical college admissions counselling - and a Sikar-based family that bought the paper for Rs.15 lakh and sold it onward for Rs.30 lakh. Two others were detained by state police on the CBI's behalf, as investigators mapped a complete financial chain running from Maharashtra through Haryana to Rajasthan's coaching belt. Dhananjay Lokhande, 26, from Rahuri tehsil in Ahilyanagar, is the earliest known node in the chain of a leak that will now require close to 2.3 million medical college aspirants to retake a test that most spend months, if not years, preparing for. Lokhande, a BAMS graduate from Mangaluru practising medicine in his home district, also did counselling related to medical college admissions - a proximity to the NEET ecosystem that investigators are examining closely. He allegedly couriered the so-called "guess paper" to Shubham Khairnar, who paid Rs.10 lakh for it. He was picked up from his village in the early hours of Wednesday following a CBI tip-off. The five formally arrested by CBI are Lokhande, Yash Yadav from Gurugram, Dinesh Biwal, his brother Mangilal Biwal and Mangilal's son Vikas from Jaipur's Jamwa Ramgarh, and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik. Khairnar was detained by Maharashtra police on Tuesday and whose custody has since been transferred to the agency. The Biwal brothers and Vikas had been detained by the Rajasthan SOG on Monday for questioning; CBI formally arrested them on Wednesday morning. Manisha Waghmare from Pune too was detained by state police on the CBI's behalf. All are being questioned by the CBI in Jaipur; Khairnar is being brought to Delhi for further interrogation. A CBI team also visited the NTA headquarters in Delhi to collect documents related to the examination. "Several other suspects are currently being examined," a CBI spokesperson said. "The agency has formed multiple teams to investigate all aspects of the leak. Key persons involved in sharing the question paper are being traced. The CBI is pursuing all leads through extensive technical and forensic analysis." Incriminating materials and electronic devices, including mobile phones, were seized across multiple locations. The money trail, as far as investigators have pieced together, goes: Lokhande couriered the guess paper to Khairnar for Rs.10 lakh. Khairnar sold it to Yadav in Gurugram for Rs.15 lakh. Yadav passed it to the Biwal brothers for Rs.15 lakh. "Dinesh Biwal and his brother Mangilal Biwal received the guess paper containing 120 questions of NEET-2026 from Yash Yadav from Haryana. They purchased it for Rs.15 lakh and then sold it in Sikar for a total of Rs.30 lakh," the SOG said. The paper then moved to Rakesh Kumar, a counsellor at a Sikar coaching centre, who sold it to the owner of a coaching centre and PG hostel - from where it spread across Telegram channels nationwide. Waghmare, 46, who runs a beauty parlour in Pune's Bibvewadi - her husband is a dentist - is believed to have connected students to Lokhande after accepting payments. Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar confirmed her detention. "Initial investigation suggests that Waghmare connected students to Lokhande after accepting payments. However, her exact role and the scale of her involvement will become clear only after detailed interrogation," a police officer said....