A Delhi court on Sunday sent accused Shubham Khairnar to judicial custody until June 6 in the NEET paper leak case.
Special Judge Ruchi Aggarwal allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) plea seeking the judicial custody of the accused. The agency cited the need to recover and analyse digital devices and evidence, including communication records and the financial trail connected to the "paper leak network".
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The CBI had further submitted that the larger conspiracy and source of the leaked question paper had to be unearthed, and the accused needed to be taken to various parts of the country, including Nashik in Maharashtra, reported news agency PTI.
Earlier, on May 14, a court had sent Khairnar and four others to CBI custody for seven days, observing that the allegations indicated the role of an "organised gang" involved in leaking and circulating confidential examination papers for monetary gain.
Khairnar's custodial interrogation was extended by five days on May 20 after the CBI stated that the accused needed to be further examined to identify and apprehend other co-accused to whom he had sold the NEET-UG 2026 papers.
According to the CBI, Khairnar also had to be interrogated to identify locations where questions were revealed to certain candidates. The CBI has so far arrested 10 accused in the case.
Meanwhile, court sources said that Pune-based physics lecturer Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, arrested on Friday, was presently on transit remand and is likely to be produced before the court concerned on Monday.
They added that five other accused will also be produced before the court after their CBI custody ends on May 25.
The NEET-UG 2026 exam for admission to undergraduate courses in medical colleges, held on May 3, was cancelled two days later amid allegations of a paper leak.
The government has asked the CBI to carry out a comprehensive inquiry into the "irregularities".
