New Delhi, May 15 -- Three days after taking over the investigation into alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) 2026, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested the man believed to be at the heart of the paper leak on Friday - a chemistry professor from Pune who used his insider access to the exam system to dictate actual questions to students who paid lakhs of rupees weeks before the test. On the same day, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced that the cancelled exam will be held again on June 21, and that NEET will move to a computer-based format from next year.
Professor P V Kulkarni, a chemistry expert from Latur who had spent years on the panels that set NEET question papers, was arrested from his Pune home after what the CBI described as a thorough interrogation. "P V Kulkarni has been arrested at Pune after thorough interrogation," a CBI spokesperson confirmed.
The way the leak worked was straightforward and brazen. In the last week of April, Kulkarni called students to his home and dictated questions, options and answers to them. The students wrote everything down in notebooks. When the NEET-UG exam was held on May 3, those notebook entries "tallied exactly" with the actual paper. Students had paid several lakh rupees each to attend these sessions. A woman named Manisha Waghmare, arrested by the CBI on May 14, had helped Kulkarni bring these students together.
From Kulkarni's sessions, the leaked material then passed through a chain of middlemen. Waghmare gave the paper to one Dhananjay Lokhande, who was arrested from Ahilyanagar on Thursday. Lokhande passed it to Nashik-based Shubham Khairnar. Khairnar passed it further to Yash Yadav in Gurugram, who then circulated it more widely.
In another branch of the same network, Khairnar told Yadav in April that a Jaipur man named Mangilal Biwal was willing to pay Rs 10 to 12 lakh for leaked questions for his younger son. Khairnar reportedly shared 500 to 600 questions with Yadav, which investigators say was enough to score well and secure a seat in a good medical college. The final deal between Yadav and Mangilal Biwal was settled at Rs 10 lakh. Mangilal then shared the material with his son and also distributed it among relatives. Yadav additionally asked Vikas Biwal, Mangilal's elder son, to find more NEET aspirants willing to buy the questions, so that some of the money paid could be recovered. Vikas knew Yadav from a NEET coaching centre in Sikar, Rajasthan.
The CBI has so far arrested eight people in the case: Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal from Jaipur; Yash Yadav from Gurugram; Shubham Khairnar from Nashik; Dhananjay Lokhande from Ahilyanagar; Manisha Waghmare from Pune; and now Professor Kulkarni, also from Pune. In the 24 hours before Friday, CBI teams searched multiple locations across the country and seized documents, mobile phones and electronic devices. "A detailed forensic and technical analysis of the seized items is going on," the spokesperson said. Investigators have already recovered incriminating chats and digital copies of the leaked paper from the seized devices, and plan to extract deleted data through forensic examination.
At a press conference in Delhi on Friday, Education Minister Pradhan spoke directly to the millions of students affected by the cancellation. "Our topmost priority is the future of the students. I want to appeal to the society, especially to all students, to appear in the examination without fear. The government stands with you. We will not let malpractice happen this time," he said.
Pradhan explained how the government came to know about the leak. After the May 3 exam, students began filing complaints on the NTA's grievance portal by May 7, flagging that questions from circulating "guess papers" had appeared in the actual exam. A preliminary inquiry was started immediately. The case was handed to central agencies on the night of May 7 itself, and over the next few days, as evidence confirmed that questions had indeed leaked, the government cancelled the exam on May 12. "We did not want any deserving student to be deprived of their rights because of the conspiracy of the education mafia or because of an undeserving candidate benefitting through unfair means," the minister said. Pradhan also acknowledged that this was not the first time NEET had faced such a crisis. Following irregularities in 2024, the Radhakrishnan Committee was set up and its recommendations were put in place. "Despite that, this incident occurred," he said.
For students now waiting for the re-exam, here is what has been announced. The exam will be held on June 21, from 2 pm to 5:15 pm, which is 15 minutes longer than the original slot. It will remain a pen-and-paper test across 13 languages. Admit cards will be out by June 14. Students can update their address and choose a preferred exam city on the NTA website between May 15 and May 21 until 11:50 pm. Those who do not make changes will keep their earlier city choice. No other changes to application details will be allowed, and no requests will be accepted after May 21. The government also said it will talk to state governments about arranging transport for students, and the NTA is keeping weather conditions in mind given the June date.
Looking ahead, Pradhan confirmed that from next year NEET will be conducted in computer-based mode. "The CBT mode of exam is comparatively better than OMR. It is a bit protected," he said, while noting that the country will need to stay alert to the growing challenges of cybercrime.
His warning to those who might try to disrupt the re-exam was direct. "To those creating fear and disturbances, stay away from the upcoming examination process. Otherwise, they will have to face punishment," he said. On the CBI investigation, he added: "Whether someone is within the NTA or outside it, no one will be spared." For the lakhs of honest students who now have to sit the exam a second time through no fault of their own, that assurance from the government is what they will be holding on to on June 21.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.