NEET paper leak traced back to NTA insider, CBI tells court; 2 more held

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told a Delhi court on Thursday that the NEET-UG 2026 question paper leak traces back to a source inside the National Testing Agency (NTA)— a claim the court recorded in its order noting that Shubham Khairnar had obtained the paper from a Pune-based person who had in turn obtained it from his “NTA source”.

- Neeraj Chauhan and Arnabjit Sur

The agency said it is now working to identify the NTA officials and other government functionaries involved in the leak.

The case stems from the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 on May 12 —nine days after 2.27 million students sat the examination across 551 cities —after central agencies confirmed that the question paper had been compromised. According to the CBI's remand plea, a PDF containing 500-600 questions —of which 180 were later found to be “precisely identical” to the actual paper —was being shared on Telegram as early as April 29, four days before the exam.

The court order, passed by special judge (CBI) Ajay Kumar Gupta of Rouse Avenue courts while granting seven-day custody of five accused, cited the agency to state: “accused Shubham Khairnar had obtained the said paper from another person from Pune who had obtained the same from his NTA source.” The Pune-based person has not been named.

CBI told the court it wants to interrogate the accused “to unearth a larger conspiracy and source of the leaked NEET-UG 2026 question paper” and to further “identify the officials of NTA and other departments” involved.