NEET leak accused P V Kulkarni entered conspiracy to distribute the papers, CBI tells Delhi court

Waghmare too was arrested in Pune on Friday. A CBI spokesperson had said Kulkarni had organised special coaching classes with the help of Waghmare, during which he had dictated the leaked questions to the students along with the options and the correct answers.

CBI has asked for 14 days’ custody of the two accused. The court is likely to pass its order soon.

“Since it’s a larger conspiracy, we might have to take them outside [Delhi] as well,” counsel for CBI Singh said. “The investigation is at a crucial stage. We need custody to collect evidence,” counsel said.

On Friday, CBI had earlier told Special Judge Ajay Gupta of Rouse Avenue Court that the May 3 NEET paper had been leaked through an “NTA source”. Eight individuals including Kulkarni have been arrested so far in the sweeping multicity crackdown in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana to trace the source of the leak.

More than 22.7 lakh aspirants appeared for the paper that was cancelled on May 12. A retest will be held on June 21, the NTA has announced.

“Accused Dhananjay (Lokhande) who is known to Shubham (Khairnar, the first person to be arrested) collected the papers from Manisha Waghmare who is a resident of Pune. Dhananjay transferred it to Shubham. Then Yash Yadav (who was arrested in Gurgaon) received the pdf of leaked question paper through Shubham,” public prosecutor Singh told the court.

CBI has described Kulkarni, who taught chemistry in Dayanand Junior College in Latur, Maharashtra before his retirement a few years ago, as the “source of the NEET-UG 2026 examination paper leaks”.

“The probe has revealed that Kulkarni was involved in the process of examination on behalf of NTA. He had access to the question papers, and he organised special coaching sessions at his Pune residence during the last week of April 2026, in which students were allegedly mobilised and taught the leaked material,” a CBI spokesperson had said on Friday.

According to the CBI, the questions that he dictated to students at his special coaching classes along with Waghmare tallied with the actual question paper of NEET-UG 2026 that was held on May 3.

Counsel for defence Akash Chauhan argued before the court on Saturday that the arrests had been made based only on disclosure statements, and that there was no evidence against his clients. The arrests were illegal, he argued.

CBI had registered a case on May 12 following a written complaint from the Department of Higher Education at the Union Ministry of Education. The CBI had then formed special teams and launched coordinated searches, and made arrests at multiple locations.

As per the CBI, a “guess paper” of 150 pages with 410 questions was circulated. Of those 410 questions about 120 questions appeared in the chemistry paper of the exam. This paper was with students weeks before the examination, the agency said.