Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested five accused persons and conducted searches at several locations across the country in connection with alleged irregularities and a paper leak linked to the NEET UG-2026 examination.The case was registered on Tuesday following a written complaint from the Department of Higher Education under the Union education ministry regarding alleged irregularities and leakage of the medical entrance examination paper conducted on May 3.According to the CBI, the FIR has been registered under charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.So far, the agency has arrested five accused: three from Jaipur, one from Gurugram and one from Nashik. Several other suspects are currently being questioned as part of the ongoing probe.The CBI said searches were conducted at multiple locations across the country as investigators attempted to trace the wider network allegedly involved in the leak and circulation of exam-related material.The development comes a day after the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled NEET-UG 2026 following findings that several questions appearing similar to those in the actual exam paper had allegedly circulated before the examination.The cancellation affects nearly 23 lakh candidates and marks the first time the entire NEET-UG examination has been scrapped since the NTA took over the exam in 2019.Investigators have linked the alleged leak trail to a printing agency in Jaipur and coaching networks spread across Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar and Kerala.According to officials, the suspected leak material was circulated in the form of a PDF document allegedly containing around 410 questions. Investigators are probing claims that nearly 140 questions, including around 120 chemistry questions matched those that appeared in the final NEET paper.NTA director general Abhishek Singh had said that while the entire paper was not leaked, the appearance of even a single matching question compromised the integrity of the examination process.“So, I would not say that the entire paper was leaked. But I will definitely say that even if a single question matches our question paper, then our commitment to zero tolerance and zero error is violated, and our entire process is compromised,” Singh had said.The first whistleblower inputs reportedly reached the NTA on May 7, four days after the examination was conducted. Officials later found that the PDF containing suspected leaked questions had been present on some mobile phones before the exam dates.Investigators suspect the paper may have first leaked from a Jaipur-based printing agency before reaching a coaching institute in Nashik and subsequently spreading across multiple states.The CBI has also invoked provisions related to theft and destruction of evidence as part of the investigation.The NTA has said a fresh NEET-UG examination will be conducted on dates to be announced separately. Candidates will not be required to register again or pay fresh fees and previous examination centre choices will be carried forward.
