CBI has succeeded in catching another mastermind in the NEET UG 2026 paper leak case. CBI has arrested a biology teacher from Pune from Delhi. The other main accused in the case, Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, a senior botany teacher from Pune, Maharashtra, has been arrested by the CBI from Delhi after intensive interrogation. She was associated with the NEET UG 2026 examination process.
Manisha was part of the paper-setting committee
Biology lecturer Manisha Mandhare was part of the NEET-UG paper-setting committee of the National Testing Agency. The investigating agency has made this arrest on the basis of interrogation of the main mastermind of this entire racket, Professor PV Kulkarni and other accused. According to officials, Manisha Mandhare was appointed as an expert by NTA, due to which she had full access to the Botany and Zoology question papers.
This is how a conspiracy was hatched with accused Manisha Waghmare
It is alleged that Manisha Mandhare collected the candidates before the examination in April 2026 through Manisha Waghmare of Pune (who was arrested on May 14) and conducted secret coaching classes for them at her Pune residence. During this time, Mandhare made selected students write leaked questions and their answers, in return for which lakhs of rupees were collected from them. These questions matched exactly in the examination held on May 3. Earlier on Friday, the CBI had also arrested chemistry expert Professor P V Kulkarni from Latur, who was part of the panel that set the NEET paper for years. Kulkarni also took advantage of his privilege and called students to his home in the last week of April and made them memorize questions and answers.
During the last 24 hours, CBI has also conducted raids at six places across the country. In this action many suspicious documents, laptops, bank statements and mobile phones have been seized. Detailed analysis of the seized material is underway. Till now, a total of 9 accused have been arrested in this case from Delhi, Jaipur, Gurugram, Nashik, Pune and Ahilyanagar. Of these, 5 accused have been produced in the court and sent on police remand for 7 days. At the same time, two other accused arrested yesterday have been brought to Delhi on transit remand after being produced in Pune court. He is being produced in Delhi court.
Another mastermind has been arrested
Earlier, CBI had arrested the other mastermind of this case and chemistry lecturer PV Kulkarni. Kulkarni is a resident of Latur district of Maharashtra. First he was brought to Pune on transit remand and then he is being brought to Delhi. The investigating agency claims that Kulkarni was associated with the examination process of the National Testing Agency (NTA) for a long time and had access to the question papers. According to CBI, in the last week of April, PV Kulkarni, along with other accused Manisha Waghmare, started recruiting students. Manisha Waghmare was arrested on 14 May. Investigation revealed that special coaching classes were run for select students at Kulkarni’s house in Pune. In these classes, questions, their options and correct answers were dictated to the students, which they wrote in their notebooks.
Investigation has also revealed that PV Kulkarni and Manisha Waghmare were running an organized syndicate together. This network used to target students on the basis of their economic and educational status. Seminars were organized at many places and old students, especially youth with engineering background, were made agents. The whole matter came to light when some parents of Latur complained that 42 questions asked in the mock test of a coaching institute exactly matched the real paper of NEET UG exam. After this the local police started investigation and later the case was handed over to CBI.