NEET question paper bought for Rs 10-12 lakh, CBI tells Delhi court
Need to unearth nationwide conspiracy, role of public servants, argues CBI, gets 7-day custody of 5 accused in case
The NEET paper was with students weeks before the examination on May 3, the agency said. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh/ representative) A Delhi court on Thursday remanded the five men accused in the NEET paper leak case in seven days’ CBI custody. The Central Bureau of Investigation told the court that it wanted to ascertain the role of public servants in the leak after confronting them.
The accused, who were arrested in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Haryana, were brought to Delhi after trial courts in these states granted their transit remand.
“Their remand is necessary as it was a larger conspiracy in the whole nation… Papers were leaked and distributed. We need to find the extent to which the accused persons had access to the public servants and how many people from the printing press were involved,” the public prosecutor representing CBI told Special Judge Ajay Gupta of the Rouse Avenue Court.
“Question paper was sent with answer sheet ki yahin pe tick maarna hai… We have found incriminating evidence on their phones. The leaked papers were circulated among various candidates,” the prosecutor said.
The five accused persons produced before the court were identified as Shubham Khairnar from Nashik, Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal, and Dinesh Biwal from Jaipur, and Yash Yadav from Gurgaon.
Khairnar (27) is accused of purchasing the leaked question paper for around Rs 10 lakh and selling it for nearly Rs 15 lakh per copy through a courier chain that allegedly stretched from Nashik in Maharashtra to Rajasthan.
The investigation reached Maharashtra after Rajasthan Police shared details about the alleged movement of the paper. Police tracked Khairnar to outside a temple in Nashik, and found that he had shaved his head, allegedly to avoid being recognised.
As per the CBI, a “guess paper” of 150 pages with 410 questions was circulated. Of those 410 questions about 120 questions appeared in the chemistry paper of the exam. This paper was with students weeks before the examination on May 3, the agency said.
In its remand papers submitted before the court, the CBI said it needed the custody of the accused persons to “prevent further commission of similar offences involving leakage of question papers” and to “identify and apprehend other co-accused persons involved in the offence”.
It also said that it needed to “recover and analyse digital devices” and uncover the “financial trail connected to the NEET UG 2026 examination”. There was also a need to “unearth the larger conspiracy” by identifying the officials of the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the NEET, and other departments, who were allegedly involved in the leak.
The CBI is learnt to have found that Shubham informed Yash Yadav that Mangilal Biwal had approached him for “arranging leaked NEET UG 2026 question papers before the examination for his younger son for 10-12 lakhs”. According to the CBI, Mangilal contacted Yash over Whatsapp for the leaked papers.
“On 29.04.2026, Shubham (Khairnar) allegedly informed Yash Yadav that he would provide leaked question papers of Physics, Chemistry and Biology papers which will have approximately 500-600 questions capable of securing around very good marks, which can ensure admission in reputed medical colleges,” the CBI said in its remand papers.
After this, Yadav allegedly received PDF files of leaked question papers on Telegram. Mangilal allegedly purchased the paper from Yadav for 10 lakh, and provided it to his son, his cousin and his son’s friends. Mangilal’s son contacted various other candidates and shared these details with Yadav through WhatsApp and Instagram, as per the CBI.
“Dinesh Biwal…stated that Yash Yadav had provided NEET UG 2026 leaked question sets in PDF format to his elder brother…on the Telegram application in consideration of Rs 12 lakhs, to be paid later, after taking security in the form of original educational documents and a signed blank cheque,” the CBI said.
The mobile phones of all the accused persons have been seized by the central probe agency.
Granting the CBI’s prayer, Special Judge Gupta said in his order: “Allegedly, there is a larger conspiracy angle present in this case and the investigation is at its very nascent stage and the custody of the accused persons has been sought in order to unearth the entire conspiracy as well as arrest all the active members of this organised paper leak gang and also for the recovery of all the relevant incriminating material… Both the applications filed by the CBI seeking seven days Police custody remand of all the five accused persons are hereby allowed.”
Share
