The judicial custody of 10 accused in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case was extended till July 11 by a Delhi court on Monday, as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) continued its probe into an alleged network involved in obtaining and circulating examination papers before the test.
The accused were produced before the Rouse Avenue Court through video conferencing after the expiry of their earlier judicial custody.
The court extended the custody of Yash Yadav, Mangilal Biwal, Dinesh Biwal, Vikas Biwal, Dhananjay Lokhande, Tejas Harshad Shah, Shubham Khairnar, Manisha Waghmare, Manisha Sanjay Havaldar and Dr Manoj Shirure till July 11.
CBI expands probe into alleged leak network
Earlier on June 15, the Rouse Avenue Court had extended the judicial custody of the 10 accused till June 29. The court had also allowed the CBI to question accused Shubham Khairnar, Manisha Waghmare and Dhananjay Lokhande inside jail on June 17, 18 and 19, respectively, for one hour each as part of the investigation.
The CBI has so far arrested 13 accused and is examining the alleged chain involved in arranging and distributing NEET-UG question papers before the examination.
According to the probe agency, Latur-based doctor Manoj Shirure allegedly played a key role in helping three students, including the son of an accused coaching centre owner, access Chemistry questions from alleged kingpin P.V. Kulkarni before the exam.
The agency has alleged that Tejas Harshad Shah, a Physics faculty member at Pune-based Abhang Prabhu Medical Academy (APMA), received leaked Physics questions from co-accused Manisha Sanjay Havaldar.
Alleged role of intermediaries
The CBI has further claimed that Pune-based education consultant Manisha Waghmare acted as an intermediary by bringing together students who allegedly paid lakhs of rupees for special coaching sessions where questions later appearing in the NEET-UG 2026 examination were discussed.
The probe agency said Waghmare facilitated candidates for special coaching classes conducted by NTA-appointed senior Botany teacher Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, who is suspected to be the co-mastermind behind the Biology paper leak.
Chemistry professor P.V. Kulkarni has been identified by the CBI as the alleged kingpin of the paper leak network.
Re-examination held after cancellation
The CBI registered the case on May 12 based on a written complaint received from the Department of Higher Education under the Union Ministry of Education. After registering the FIR, special teams were formed and searches were conducted at multiple locations across the country.
Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination on June 21 after the original exam was cancelled following concerns over alleged irregularities. More than 20 lakh medical aspirants appeared for the re-examination across 5,440 centres in India and 14 centres abroad. Nearly 7 lakh personnel, including examination staff, police personnel, observers and administrative officials, were deployed for the smooth conduct of the examination. Over 95,000 examination rooms were monitored through more than 1.38 lakh CCTV cameras, while over 51,000 signal jammers were installed to prevent electronic malpractice.
The re-examination was conducted with Aadhaar-based biometric verification, facial authentication, two-layer frisking, real-time surveillance and command-and-control centre monitoring to maintain transparency and protect the integrity of the examination process.