The CBI's investigation into the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak is closing in on the insider network allegedly responsible for the breach. Two fresh arrests, a Pune-based botany teacher with direct access to question papers and the founder of a coaching institute in Latur, have brought the total number of people arrested in the case to nine, with the probe widening across Maharashtra and beyond.

The teacher who set the questions

The more significant of the two arrests involves Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, a senior botany teacher from Pune who worked as an expert associated with the National Testing Agency. According to the CBI, Mandhare was involved in preparing Botany and Zoology questions for the NEET-UG 2026 examination, a role that investigators allege gave her access to confidential Biology questions well before the May 3 exam.

The agency claims that during April 2026, Mandhare ran special coaching sessions at her residence in Pune's Shivajinagar area, where she worked at Modern College of Arts, Science and Commerce. During these sessions, students were allegedly asked to write down important Botany and Zoology questions in notebooks and mark them in textbooks. Several of those questions, investigators say, later matched the actual NEET-UG 2026 Biology paper.

Mandhare allegedly identified and contacted selected NEET aspirants through another accused, Manisha Waghmare, who was earlier arrested in the case. The CBI believes the operation involved insiders, middlemen, and candidates who paid large sums to obtain probable exam questions.

The coaching institute founder

The second arrest involves Shivraj Motegaonkar, founder and director of RCC Coaching Institute in Latur, who was taken into custody after a seven-hour interrogation. According to the CBI, Motegaonkar was an active member of a gang that illegally circulated the NEET-UG paper. The arrest and search memo accessed by India Today stated that he colluded with other accused to obtain the question papers and answers as early as April 23, ten days before the examination.

A search of Motegaonkar's Latur residence on May 14 led to the recovery of the leaked question paper on his mobile phone, which has been seized for forensic examination. The CBI further alleged that he conspired with gang members and officials linked to the NTA to distribute copies of the leaked papers and answer sheets to multiple individuals, and that he destroyed those papers after the examination to eliminate evidence. He has not yet disclosed the names of all recipients of the handwritten copies.

Motegaonkar has been booked under Sections 61(2), 238, 303(2), 316(5), and 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita 2023, along with provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.

Where the investigation stands

The CBI formally registered the case on May 12, 2026, following a complaint from the Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education, the same day the NTA cancelled the examination. The re-examination is scheduled for June 21. Nine people have now been arrested across different cities as the probe continues to expand.

Published on: May 18, 2026 3:00 PM IST