The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday took over the investigation into the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak after the Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) revealed that a 'paper leak mafia' had sold a leaked 'guess paper' for amounts ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh per copy. The biology and chemistry questions in the guess paper matched those in the official May 3 exam.
CBI Team Arrives at SOG Office
A CBI team reached the SOG office late Tuesday evening to take custody of the case and is expected to question several suspects further. The team remained inside the SOG headquarters until late evening, coordinating with senior SOG officials on the investigation and the transfer of suspect custody.
Case Registration and Charges
The CBI stated that it registered a case based on a written complaint from the Department of Higher Education in the Union Education Ministry. In a statement, the CBI said an FIR had been lodged regarding alleged irregularities and a paper leak in the conduct of the NEET-UG 2026 examination. The charges include criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, theft, and destruction of evidence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), as well as offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
Key Suspect: Rakesh Mandawaria
Sources indicated that multiple suspects include Sikar-based consultant Rakesh Mandawaria, who was among the first to be questioned for his alleged role in circulating the leaked 'guess papers'. Mandawaria, who runs RK Consultancy, was detained for questioning by the Rajasthan SOG on May 8. He is a product of Jawahar Navodaya School, Patan, and prepared for medical entrance exams for about five to six years since 2008. He continued to live in Sikar, providing services as a 'paper solver' and 'consultant'. Mandawaria is accused of leaking the 'guess paper' after claiming that over 120 questions from the official exam appeared in the version he shared.
Other Suspects Under Scrutiny
Some of the other suspects being questioned by the CBI at the SOG office include Vikram Yadav, Yogesh Parjapat, Sandip Haritwal, Nitesh Ajmera, Mangilal, Dinesh, Vikash, Yesh Yadav, and Satyanarayan Choudhary.
How the Leak Was Discovered
Following Mandawaria's claim, a coaching teacher filed a complaint at Sikar's Udyog Nagar police station, leading the police and SOG to take him into custody. The SOG stated that the question paper was leaked and disguised as a 'guess paper', which was circulated widely from Jaipur, Sikar, and Gurgaon to Nashik and Pune. Investigators said the guess paper contained all questions from the biology and chemistry sections; the physics section could not be traced.
Senior SOG officials explained: 'These questions were tactfully hidden inside a guess paper containing over 400 questions, which included all 90 biology questions and all 45 chemistry questions from the official NEET 2026 question paper.'
Timeline of Events
Sources in the SOG said that on May 7, an individual in Sikar district received the guess paper and flagged the issue to local authorities, but the complaint was allegedly ignored. The individual then wrote a detailed email to the National Testing Agency (NTA), which shared the input with another central agency that, in turn, alerted the SOG. Upon comparing the guess paper with the official NEET question paper, several matching questions were discovered.
'We dispatched a team to camp in Sikar. As the investigation peeled back the layers, we realised that the racket involved in leaking the paper had a network stretching across the country, covering Jaipur, Sikar, Gurgaon, Nashik and Dehradun, and extending all the way to Kerala,' the sources added.
Network and Arrests
Inspector General of Police, SOG, Ajay Pal Lamba, said a Haryana-based man in Rajasthan obtained the paper from someone in Nashik. He also noted that over two dozen suspects have appeared before the CBI teams since they arrived in Jaipur. Lamba said the leaked question paper also reached students in Sikar and Jaipur, adding that suspects include aspirants and their parents. 'The paper leak epicentre was not Rajasthan,' Lamba stated.
'We have questioned 150 students and 70 other people so far over their suspected involvement in the case,' another official said. 'We suspect that the questions were meant to be shared with only a few select buyers, but due to greed, someone routed them outside the designated network and began selling them independently,' the official added.
Investigators also claimed to have recovered messages telling students that even if they had not prepared adequately, memorising the guess-paper questions would still help them secure admission to a medical college.
Detention in Nashik
Meanwhile, Nashik Police on Tuesday detained a man in connection with the NEET paper leak based on a request from Rajasthan Police. The Nashik Police Crime Branch Unit 2 apprehended the person, and a team of Rajasthan Police was scheduled to reach Nashik to take the man into custody.
