NEET Paper Leak: Court sends 5 accused to judicial custody, extends Khairnar’s CBI remand

New Delhi, May 20: A Delhi court on Wednesday sent five accused in the NEET paper leak case to judicial custody till June 2 and extended the CBI custody of another accused.

Special Judge Ajay Gupta allowed the agency’s plea seeking judicial custody till June 2 of five accused persons — Mangilal Khatik, Vikas Biwal, Dinesh Biwal, all three arrested from Jaipur; Yash Yadav, arrested from Gurugram; and Dhananjay Lokhande, arrested from Ahilyanagar in Maharashtra.

Judge Gupta also allowed five more days of custodial interrogation of another accused, Shubham Khairnar.

In its remand paper, the agency said Khairnar needed to be further examined to identify and apprehend other co-accused persons to whom he had sold the NEET-UG 2026 papers, besides recovering and analysing digital devices and evidence, including communication records and financial trail connected to the “paper leak network”.

It said that the larger conspiracy and source of the leaked question paper had to be unearthed, and the accused had to be taken to various parts of the country, including Nasik in Maharashtra.

According to the paper, Khairnar also had to be interrogated to identify locations where questions were revealed to certain candidates

Earlier, on May 14, the court sent Mangilal Khatik, Vikas Biwal, Dinesh Biwal, Yash Yadav and Shubham Khairnar to seven days’ CBI custody, saying the allegations revealed the role of an “organised gang” involved in leaking and circulating confidential examination papers for monetary gain.

The next day, Lokhande was remanded in six days’ CBI custody, and the court underlined that the agency needed to unearth the entire conspiracy, identify and arrest others, recover evidence and prevent tampering of evidence.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the federal agency also sought signature specimens of accused Manisha Mandhare and Shivraj Motegaonkar, underlining its requirement to further the probe.

The CBI has arrested 10 accused in the case.

The other accused in the case are the alleged kingpin Prahlad Vithalrao Kulkarni and Manisha Sanjay Waghmare, who were sent to CBI custody for 10 days on May 16.

The same day, the CBI arrested biology lecturer Manisha Mandhare, who was part of the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) paper-setting committee. She was sent to 14 days’ CBI custody on May 17.

According to the agency, Waghmare conspired with a public servant associated with the NTA and others to receive the question paper and answers of the NEET exam, after which she provided them to several people, including some of the accused such as Lokhande for monetary benefit.

It alleged that Kulkarni, along with Waghmare and several others, provided the “confidential exam-related material” to “selected students”, for which the kingpin, who was a “subject expert”, received a “substantial amount of money”.

The tenth arrest in the case was of Renukai Career Centre (RCC) coaching institute founder Shivraj Raghunath Motegoankar on the evening of May 17 in Latur.

In its remand application before the court the next day, the CBI said, “He is involved in the leakage and circulation of NEET UG exam questions-2026 and that, in conspiracy with other accused persons, he had received the chemistry questions and answers of the exam before the examination, i.e., on April 23, 2026.”

The court on May 18 sent him to nine days’ CBI custody, noting that the probe was at an initial stage.

The NEET (UG) 2026 exam for admission to undergraduate courses in medical colleges, held on May 3, was cancelled two days later amid allegations of paper leak.

The government has asked the CBI to carry out a comprehensive inquiry into the “irregularities”.