New Delhi:
Memorising questions, jotting them down on chits, marking relevant paragraphs in books. This was the broad modus operandi of the accused in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, according to the chargesheet filed by the CBI.
NDTV has accessed the CBI chargesheet in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak that rocked the country in early May and triggered massive protests that led to the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as Education Minister.
The 94-page CBI document details how three subject experts who were part of the National Testing Agency (NTA) team tasked with framing the question paper allegedly leaked the questions.
The chargesheet has named PV Kulkarni, Manisha Mandhare and Manisha Havaldar as the main sources of the paper leak.
Kulkarni was a subject expert in chemistry, while Mandhare and Havaldar were experts in botany and physics, respectively. They are among the 13 accused arrested and charged by the agency in connection with the NEET paper leak.
According to the chargesheet, the experts allegedly copied questions onto chits and marked paragraphs in NCERT books during the moderation process at the NTA centre.
Read | No Live CCTV, No Frisking: Testing Agency Lapses That Led To NEET Paper Leak
The CBI states that they had access to different sections during the question-setting and translation process. They allegedly copied questions onto slips of paper, identified the corresponding NCERT chapters and paragraphs, and shared these with students through trusted intermediaries and coaching networks.
Investigators believe this method was intended to avoid leaving a digital trail while still giving candidates a significant advantage. The CBI has claimed the leaks were motivated by both financial gain and a desire to improve the success rates of tuition classes run by some of the accused.
The chargesheet accessed by NDTV mentions that students were allegedly asked to handwrite the leaked questions during private coaching sessions, and the agency later recovered some of these handwritten notes during searches.
For simpler questions, the accused would just memorise them and later put them down on paper in their hotel room at the end of the day, the chargesheet says.
The CBI has also flagged shortcomings in the NTA. “There was no practice of checking/frisking of experts during entry/exit from the confidential section at NTA. For easier questions, an expert could simply remember them and write them down in a book once he returned to his hotel room at the end of the day. Accused PV Kulkarni (A-2) did back-translation work for three sets of questions (135 questions in total) from 31.03.2026 to 02.04.2026, i.e., over a period of 3 days,” the chargesheet said.
The chargesheet names 13 accused, including three NTA subject experts, coaching-linked individuals, middlemen and beneficiary candidates. Investigators allege that the insiders exploited their official access to confidential examination material before the paper was finalised and distributed.
The allegations are part of the CBI chargesheet and are yet to be tested in court.
The CBI’s collection of documents, including annexures and related papers, runs into 20,000 pages and has been filed in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court.
The CBI has filed the chargesheet against 13 accused persons for offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, destruction of evidence and others under the BNS; for the offence of criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act; and for offences under the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
The CBI cited 360 witnesses, 422 documents and 43 material objects in this chargesheet. All 13 chargesheeted persons are in judicial custody as of date.
The CBI said it registered the FIR on May 12 and immediately formed multiple teams with 72 officers/personnel along with eight cyber forensic experts. Searches were conducted at 92 locations in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and other states. These searches led to the seizure of incriminating material like digital and communication devices, documents, etc. Forensic imaging and analysis of the incriminating material has been undertaken.
The first arrest in this case was made on May 13. A total of 13 accused have been arrested in the case, including three NTA subject experts of chemistry, biology and physics. Several middlemen who sourced and distributed these leaked questions have also been identified and arrested.
Two individuals associated with coaching institutes have also been arrested for obtaining these leaked question papers from the above experts. The money trail was analysed, and several bank accounts, bank lockers and a demat account of the accused have been frozen, the CBI said.
