A Delhi court on Thursday sent five accused arrested in connection with the alleged NEET-UG paper leak case to seven days of CBI custody, allowing the central agency to further probe the alleged conspiracy behind the exam irregularities and trace the wider network involved.
The accused — Shubham Khairnar from Nashik, Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal from Jaipur, and Yash Yadav from Gurugram — were produced before CBI Special Judge Ajay Gupta after being taken into custody over their alleged involvement in the case.
Special CBI judge Ajay Gupta remanded Kulkarni and Waghmare in CBI custody after the probe agency submitted that the duo needed to be taken outside the national capital for further investigation and that the larger conspiracy had to be investigated. Special Public Prosecutor Neetu Gupta appeared for the federal agency and sought a 14-day remand for the interrogation of the two accused.
During the proceedings, the CBI said that Kulkarni was a subject expert and had been associated with setting up the 2026 NEET UG question paper. It said that co-accused Dhananjay Lokhande had collected the leaked material from Manisha Waghmare.
Considering the detailed arguments made by the agency and the counsel for the accused, the court remanded the two to CBI custody for 10 days. According to the CBI, Kulkarni was a lecturer of Chemistry involved in the process of examination on behalf of NTA and had access to the question papers.
The CBI told the court that custodial interrogation was necessary to uncover the larger conspiracy, identify other suspects and trace financial transactions linked to the alleged exam leak network.
Khairnar, 30, a resident of Nandgaon in Maharashtra’s Nashik district, was brought to Delhi after the agency secured a two-day transit remand from a Mumbai court.The agency had earlier informed the court that the involvement of persons from multiple states was suspected and sought custody for further investigation.
The NEET-UG 2026 examination for admission to undergraduate medical courses, held on May 3, was cancelled on Tuesday following allegations of a paper leak. The Centre subsequently handed over the probe to the CBI for a comprehensive inquiry into the alleged irregularities.
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