13 people have been arrested by the CBI in connection with the NEET paper leak case, which the agency has said was more of a serious lapse than a 'leak'. The CBI noted that the three teachers had been kept in a sanitised environment during the paper-setting process, as per NTA rules, but with a caveat.

13 people have been arrested by the CBI in connection with the NEET paper leak case, which the agency has said was more of a serious lapse than a 'leak'. The CBI noted that the three teachers had been kept in a sanitised environment during the paper-setting process, as per NTA rules, but with a caveat.

13 people have been arrested by the CBI in connection with the NEET paper leak case, which the agency has said was more of a serious lapse than a 'leak'. The CBI noted that the three teachers had been kept in a sanitised environment during the paper-setting process, as per NTA rules, but with a caveat.

Months after the arrests of a number of teachers in connection with the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has shed light on some crucial details of the high-profile case.

The agency said that one key factor that compromised the exam this year was the fact that the same people who set the question papers were also the ones who translated them.

These were Chemistry teacher P.V. Kulkarni, Physics teacher Manisha Gurunath Mandhare and Biology teacher Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, who not only set the paper, but were also tasked with translating it into Marathi.

The CBI noted that this made the 2026 NEET issue less of a "leak" and more of a serious internal lapse by the National Testing Authority (NTA), as compared to 2024, where a centre in-charge allegedly conspired with the leak racket to steal and circulate question paper sets.

The CBI has conveyed this internally to the NTA, and is also expected to include these findings in its official set of recommendations to the latter on the case, a PTI report said, citing sources in the know.

The internal lapse

The CBI noted that the three teachers had been kept in a sanitised environment during the paper-setting process, as per NTA rules.

However, during that period, they were also allowed to leave the sanitised zone, from where they would go to their homes, take tuition classes, and return for their duties the next day.

They also allegedly "got a lot of time" for the paper-setting process.

The CBI noted that these two crucial factors are said to have helped them memorise the questions, and then create a question bank from memory.

It was this question bank that they gave to a select group of students, marking them as "very important", but also keeping them in the dark about the fact that they were the actual questions that were going to appear in the May 3 exam, which was eventually cancelled.

But how did these papers spread to various parts of India? The CBI pointed out that it was Manisha Waghmare, a local beautician and key accused in the case, who conspired with Dhananjay Lokhande to spread the papers at a wider level.

This led to the papers taking multiple routes out of Maharashtra—via Rajasthan, Haryana, and Kerala—through the use of messaging platforms like WhatsApp, making it a "country-wide conspiracy", which may not have happened, had Waghmare not been in the picture.

"A total of 13 accused have been arrested in the case ... Several middlemen who sourced and distributed the leaked questions have also been identified and arrested ... The money trail analysis was done, and several bank accounts, bank lockers and a demat account of the accused have been frozen," the CBI had said on July 28.

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