Shivraj Motegaonkar, the founder of one of Maharashtra's most prominent medical and engineering coaching centres, has become the tenth person to be arrested by the CBI in connection with the NEET paper leak row.
Famously known as 'M Sir', he was arrested on Monday from his residence at Omkar Residency in the Shivnagar area of Latur, after one of his videos went viral on social media.
In the short clip, 'M Sir' is seen asking some students about the now-cancelled May 3 NEET exam.
"Sir, the 101 questions you gave are exactly the same questions that appeared in the main exam," a student replied to him in the video.
Originally intended as a promotional video for his Renukai Career Centre (RCC) and its mock tests, the video is now likely to become an important piece of evidence for the CBI investigation into Motegaonkar. The RCC, which began in Latur, later expanded to eight branches across the state, with a reported annual turnover of Rs 100 crore.
However, it was not the video that led to the RCC founder's arrest, but multiple rounds of raids and questioning since Friday, said to have exposed his links to the NEET 2026 paper leak row.
The CBI probe has so far found that he had the NEET question paper on his phone, which he had received on April 23—10 days before the May 3 exam, which has now been rescheduled for June 21.
It also pointed out that searches conducted at the RCC and his residence resulted in the recovery of a Chemistry question bank, which contained exactly the same questions that had appeared in the NEET exam on May 3.
Most importantly, the agency is also probing Motegaonkar's links to retired Chemistry professor P.V. Kulkarni—who is also from Latur. Both of them are said to have links to insiders at the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The hunt is also on for the unnamed NTA insider who allegedly facilitated the leak by handing over the question paper and answer key to Kulkarni and Manisha Mandhare, another of the key accused in the case.