Investigators now suspect the alleged leak may have originated from Latur-based retired chemistry professor P V Kulkarni, who was allegedly associated with the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) confidential chemistry paper-setting process and had access to four separate NEET chemistry paper sets prepared before one final set was randomly selected for the examination.
“Since Kulkarni allegedly had access to all four paper sets, investigators suspect that questions from multiple sets may have been circulated. Since only one of the four chemistry sets was ultimately selected for the May 3 examination, 43 out of the 45 chemistry questions in that final selected set matched the material circulated by RCC. Had another set been selected, the matching questions would have been different,” a source familiar with the investigation said.
So far the CBI has arrested two persons from Latur – Motegaonkar and Kulkarni – and several teams are stations in Latur and neighbouring town questioning and conducting searches.
Sources familiar with the probe claimed that out of around 180 possible chemistry questions spread across the four chemistry sets prepared for NEET-UG 2026, nearly 133 questions allegedly appeared in RCC’s chemistry “guess paper” circulated before the May 3 examination.
Of the final chemistry set selected for the examination, 43 of the 45 questions allegedly matched the RCC material.
According to the CBI’s grounds of arrest, investigators alleged that Motegaonkar had received leaked NEET-UG 2026 chemistry questions and answers on April 23, nearly 10 days before the examination.
According to sources familiar with the inquiry, the complaint was submitted to Latur Police on May 12 after the student compared RCC’s chemistry “guess paper” with the actual NEET chemistry paper.
The complainants alleged that out of the 45 chemistry questions asked in the examination, 43 were present in RCC’s “guess paper” almost exactly, including the multiple-choice options.
“The questions and even the MCQ options were the same. That created suspicion in the minds of the parents that the paper may have been leaked beforehand,” a source familiar with the inquiry said.
Sources said suspicion around RCC’s “guess paper” grew after a video of Motegaonkar surfaced on social media in which he was seen discussing with students how questions from RCC’s mock tests and guess papers had appeared in the actual NEET examination.
According to sources, the student later compared the chemistry paper with RCC’s material, informed parents about the similarities and, after discussions with others, the family approached the police.
Following the complaint, Latur Police began recording statements of students and initiated a preliminary verification exercise involving Motegaonkar and material circulated by RCC Classes. The inquiry by Latur Police ran parallel to the CBI’s national investigation already underway after the May 12 FIR.
According to sources familiar with the probe, investigators suspect Kulkarni was not only a subject expert associated with NEET chemistry paper-setting work but was also allegedly involved in compiling, consolidating and translating four separate chemistry paper sets prepared by the NTA before one final set was randomly selected for the actual examination.
During the investigation, investigators also found that Motegaonkar had earlier been a student of Kulkarni and that the two shared close professional links through Latur’s coaching network, sources said.
The CBI arrested Motegaonkar on May 18 after questioning him twice and conducting searches at RCC Classes and his residence in Latur.
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