Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a 94-page chargesheet in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court. The agency claims that the conspiracy to leak the paper had been planned months in advance. According to the investigation, three NTA subject experts leaked the paper, which was then passed on to students through a coaching network.
The CBI has filed a chargesheet against 13 people in the case. They include three NTA subject experts, people associated with coaching institutes, middlemen and beneficiary candidates. All the accused are currently in judicial custody.
The chargesheet names Botany expert Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, Chemistry expert Prahlad Vitthalrao Kulkarni and Physics expert Manisha Sanjay Hawaldar as the main accused in the paper leak.
The CBI alleges that the three misused their official positions while preparing and moderating the question paper. Coaching operators and middlemen had contacted them several months before the examination. The confidential question paper was obtained through continuous communication, meetings and financial transactions.
How the questions were leaked
According to the chargesheet, the experts memorised questions while preparing and translating the paper, wrote them down on slips of paper and marked the relevant chapters and paragraphs in NCERT books.
This information was then passed on to students through trusted middlemen and the coaching network. During private coaching sessions, students were made to handwrite these leaked questions. The CBI also found several such handwritten notebooks during searches.
The agency says the experts memorised the easier questions and wrote them down on paper after returning to their hotels at the end of the day. This method was adopted to ensure that no digital evidence was left behind.
Questions raised over NTA’s security system
The CBI has also raised questions over NTA’s security arrangements in the chargesheet. According to the agency, subject experts entering and leaving the confidential section were not frisked.
According to the chargesheet, accused PV Kulkarni carried out the back-translation of three sets, comprising 135 questions, between March 31 and April 2, 2026. During this process, he could have memorised the questions and later written them down at the hotel.
Role of coaching network and middlemen
The CBI has also named Dr Abhang Prabhu Medical Academy, Pune COO Tejas Harshadkumar Shah, Renukai Career Centre managing partner Shivraj Motegaonkar and Siddhivinayak Hospital owner Dr Manoj Bhagwanrao Shirure as part of the conspiracy.
According to the investigation, the leaked question papers did not reach students directly. They first passed through several middlemen. Manisha Sanjay Waghmare, Dhananjay Lokhande, Shubham Madhukar Khairnar and Yash Yadav were key links in this network.
Digital evidence and financial transactions
The CBI said that WhatsApp chats, Telegram messages, PDFs of question papers, photographs and electronic devices recovered during searches, along with their forensic examination, confirmed the entire conspiracy.
According to the chargesheet, after receiving the leaked question paper, one accused had provided his original educational certificates and a signed blank cheque as security. The agency claims this clearly shows that the entire operation was a financial transaction.
13 accused, 360 witnesses and 20,000 pages of documents
The CBI has charged the accused under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and destruction of evidence, as well as the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
The chargesheet mentions 360 witnesses, 422 documents and 43 physical pieces of evidence. The agency has submitted around 20,000 pages of documents and evidence to the Rouse Avenue Court.
Raids at 92 locations, investigation by team of 72 officers
The CBI said that soon after registering the FIR on May 12, 2026, several teams comprising 72 officers and eight cyber-forensic experts were formed.
Raids were conducted at 92 locations across several states, including Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. Digital devices, documents and other crucial evidence were seized during these raids. The agency has also frozen the bank accounts, bank lockers and a demat account of the accused.
The CBI says the evidence gathered during the investigation shows that the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak was not the act of a single individual, but a well-planned conspiracy involving collusion between NTA subject experts, private coaching operators, middlemen and candidates. However, the allegations made in the chargesheet will be finally decided by the court after the trial.
