The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged that serious security lapses at the National Testing Agency (NTA) office enabled three subject experts to remove confidential questions from the NEET-UG 2026 question paper preparation process before the examination.
In its chargesheet filed before the Rouse Avenue Court, the agency said the experts, who were responsible for translation, back-translation and proofreading of Chemistry, Biology and Physics papers, exploited the absence of frisking at the confidential section and inadequate CCTV surveillance to allegedly extract questions.
According to the CBI, one accused, P.V. Kulkarni, allegedly used plain sheets provided for rough work to write down all 135 Chemistry questions and their answer options on small slips. He allegedly concealed the slips and carried them out of the confidential section.
The chargesheet said the security lapse was possible because there was no system of checking or frisking experts while entering or leaving the confidential section.
The other two accused allegedly used different methods. Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, who worked on Botany and Zoology translations, allegedly relied on her familiarity with NCERT textbooks to identify and reconstruct questions after returning to her hotel. Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, who worked on Physics, allegedly noted questions in brief after returning to her accommodation.
The CBI also highlighted shortcomings in CCTV monitoring at the NTA office in Okhla. The agency said only 20-25 days of CCTV footage was retained, leaving investigators without recordings from the relevant period because the confidential work was completed on April 7 and the case was registered on May 12.
The chargesheet further stated that the NTA had no dedicated control room for live monitoring of CCTV feeds from the confidential section.
The findings are part of the CBI chargesheet against 13 arrested accused in the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case. The agency has cited 360 witnesses, 422 documents and 43 material objects.
The CBI registered the case on May 12 following a complaint from the Department of Higher Education over alleged irregularities and leakage of questions in the May 3 examination. The agency subsequently deployed 72 officers and eight cyber-forensic experts and conducted searches at 92 locations across several states.
The investigation allegedly traced the flow of leaked questions from their source to beneficiary candidates, with middlemen and individuals linked to coaching institutes also arrested.
Following the alleged leak, the original NEET-UG 2026 examination was cancelled and a re-examination was conducted on June 21 under enhanced security arrangements.
All 13 accused named in the chargesheet are currently in judicial custody and face charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act.
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