NEET-UG paper leak: At Pune shopping complex, a shut dental clinic and a ‘beauty parlour’ that isn’t
However, before Manisha’s name surfaced as a central figure in the leak, leading to her arrest on May 14, hardly anyone in the shopping complex knew about the 46-year-old, and certainly not as a beautician.
Dr Sanjay Waghmare’s clinic, ‘Dental Designs’, at a shopping complex in Pune has been shut for the past three days. (Express photo by Pavan Khengre) Shutters are down at Dr Sanjay Waghmare’s clinic ‘Dental Designs’, at Kapil Upvan complex in Pune’s Bibwewadi. It was from this clinic that Dr Waghmare’s wife Manisha, allegedly key to the leak of the NEET-UG examination paper that has led to its cancellation, is said to have run her “beauty parlour”.
However, before Manisha’s name surfaced as a central figure in the leak, leading to her arrest on May 14, hardly anyone in the shopping complex knew about the 46-year-old, and certainly not as a beautician. A former employee at her husband’s clinic — a multi-speciality clinic, offering a range of dental services, including orthodontic — said what was being described as a “parlour” was little more than a small section within the establishment. Chaitrali Katekhaye, who owns an adjoining salon at the shopping complex, ‘Style and Smile’, said: “I remember Manisha getting her children to my parlour for a haircut. Beyond that, we barely interacted.”
At Pune shopping complex, a shut dental clinic and a ‘beauty parlour’ that isn’t
Read Here: https://t.co/aKlCqUVFs4 pic.twitter.com/UuhhRHvEMu— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) May 19, 2026
Naveena (23), who is employed with a pharmaceutical distributor’s firm in the complex, said that in the two years she had been working there, she never heard of a beauty parlour at the clinic. Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar told The Indian Express that they did not know much about Manisha, and had only detained her, before handing her over to the CBI. It was during interrogation by CBI officials, Pune Police sources said, that details about her became clear.
CBI sources said that Manisha did small-time “beauty salon” work. The agency believes Manisha connected students looking for tuitions with teachers of reputed schools, and then allegedly used the same contacts to distribute the leaked paper. Waghmare’s clinic has been shut for the past three days, said owners of other establishments at the shopping complex. The Gagan Osian Park Society where the Waghmares live with their children incidentally is the same complex where Manisha Mandhare, another accused in the case, stays. Mandhare was one of the exam setters with the National Testing Agency (NTA) that conducts NEET.
“Our society has 252 flats. The news about these arrests has come as a tremendous shock to all of us,” said Rajkumar Birjadar, secretary of the cooperative housing society. The Waghmare flat is latched from the outside. A neighbour said: “The family mostly kept to themselves. We really do not know them well.”
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