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As CBI probes leak, here is how the NEET question paper is set, printed and moved in 5 steps

The focus of investigators will be on identifying where the breach took place in the sequence of steps involved in the process -- from setting of the paper to the printing press and the exam centre.

Setting room to press to exam hall: NEET paper trail is CBI probe focus

Students protest against the NEET(UG) paper leak, in New Delhi on Thursday. (Express photo by Shreya Singhai)

5 min readNew DelhiMay 15, 2026 03:21 PM IST First published on: May 15, 2026 at 07:20 AM IST

The National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Friday (May 15) that the retest for NEET-UG 2026 will be held on June 21. The announcement comes as the CBI begins its probe into the NEET-UG paper leak that derailed the exam for 22 lakh candidates. Investigators will focus on identifying where the breach took place in the sequence of steps involved in the process — from setting the paper to the printing press and the exam centre.

NTA Director General Abhishek Singh told The Indian Express that the process follows a set of recommendations laid out by a high-level committee, headed by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan, following a similar paper leak in 2024.

These recommendations were submitted to the Education Ministry in 2024 but not made public in their entirety to ensure confidentiality. Following the latest leak, sources said the process involved was comprehensive — from tracking those who access the question paper to minimising the number of people and computers on which it is accessed before it is printed.

NEET-UG paper leak case: 3 from Rajasthan family among 5 in CBI net

Members of ABVP clash with police during a protest outside the NTA office in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)

Step 1: To set the question papers, each with 180 questions, the NTA invites faculty members — experts on physics, chemistry and biology — whose names are kept confidential. These faculty members usually involve those who have experience in dealing with first-year students. “The NTA has to provide a bunker-like setting for paper setters, where they are cut off from the world. There is near negligible flexibility in the paper-setting process, since the exam follows a syllabus and pattern,” sources said.

Step 2: Once the paper is set, the file has to be maintained at the NTA’s premises on one terminal that is not connected to the internet. A log of how many people open the file, and how many times, has to be maintained.

Step 3: The paper has to be taken from the single terminal to a commercial printing press. “If there is more than one press, the NTA is to ensure supervision through a guardian from the agency at each press. The press is to have only a minimum number of operators, and the supervisor from the NTA is not allowed to carry a mobile phone when the paper is being printed,” sources said. The printing process is to be CCTV-monitored.

Step 4: Once printed, the paper has to be transported to bank vaults, and eventually exam centres. The transport of the papers involves the district administrations. According to some of the recommendations that were made public in the committee’s report, the NTA has to collaborate with state and district administrations through coordination committees.

District-level committees are to be headed by the district magistrate, and will include a police officer. These committees are to identify testing centres, and prepare a strategy for the safe transport of the question paper to the centres with police support. “CCTV footage is to ensure that locations where the papers are stored are not breached,” sources said.

Step 5: Transport of the question paper is under police escort, in GPS-monitored vehicles. This year, the exam was conducted at 5,432 centres.

“The 2024 breach indicated that there was a problem in transport after printing. This issue was plugged through the committee’s recommendations that included involvement of the district administration and police. The NTA has streamlined the post-printing process as per the protocol that was suggested. The question now is if there was an issue before transport, at the printing stage or before that,” sources said. NTA D-G Abhishek Singh said, “We have implemented the committee’s recommendations, and where the breach has occurred will be part of the CBI inquiry.”

The NEET-UG paper leak in 2024 came to light after the exam results were declared. The CBI found the crime was allegedly committed after trunks carrying the question paper had reached an exam centre at a school in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh, from the bank vault on the day of the examination. The paper was then allegedly photographed, solved, and sold to candidates. This time, officers of the Rajasthan Special Operations Group traced the leak to a “guess paper” with 120 questions that was circulating weeks before the exam date.

According to members of the high-level committee, the principle behind the suggested protocol was to ensure that as few people as possible have access to the final question paper. They said details of the process may be improvised dynamically depending on the exam being conducted. “More the people who have access to the file that is being sent for printing, the higher the chances of a weak link. The printing usually begins well ahead of the exam itself,” a member said.

NTA chief Singh said the Agency is unlikely to be able to conduct the retest this month, after the exam was cancelled Tuesday, considering the logistics involved. He said changes in how the exam is conducted are unlikely this year. “Given time that we have, there is no possibility for changes in such a short term… no time for experimentation,” he said.

Late Thursday, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a review meeting with the NTA chief, senior officials, chiefs of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti. Sources said the meeting discussed retest preparations.