A CBI team arrived at the Rajasthan Police Special Operation Group (SOG) headquarters Tuesday evening to take up the NEET 2026 paper leak case for inquiry.
File Photo: IANS
A CBI team arrived at the Rajasthan Police Special Operation Group (SOG) headquarters Tuesday evening to take up the NEET 2026 paper leak case for inquiry. The team intensified its investigation amid statewide demonstrations by the Opposition Congress against the cancellation of the NEET Exam and delayed action by the police-SOG.
Soon after the Central probe agency officials arrived, SOG sleuths briefed them on their findings and the leads achieved so far in the matter. The SOG has also handed over custody of suspects who were picked up by them from different places, including Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Jaipur(Jamwaramgarh) and some places even out of the state, a police spokesman said.
Advertisement
The CBI sleuths started interrogation of the suspects last night itself and this grilling continued today also.
Advertisement
More than 25 suspects were in CBI custody for interrogation till the noon, the spokesman said. Cops brought four more suspects to SOG headquarters late in the afternoon to hand them over to the CBI. After completing the questioning, the CBI team is scheduled to visit Sikar and other locations.
Later this evening, some accused reportedly more than 10 were presented before the CBI Special Court judge
Meanwhile, SOG, along with local police, was tracking everyone whose name appeared in connection with accessing the paper/guess paper in Sikar, Jaipur, Jaipur rural and Alwar, the spokesman said.
He observed that paper, disguised as a guess paper, was sold for money. The exact amount is unknown; some quote it as Rs 30 lakh, while others say it cost Rs 20 or 25 lakh, or even as low as Rs 5 lakh perhaps for an individual “buyer”.
Initial revelations indicated that Sikar was the first point of paper-out was Sikar, however, Sikar(Rajasthan) was not the real epicentre of the paper leak, the spokesman said.
In fact, by the time the paper was ‘out’ in Sikar, it had leaked and reached many in other states, the spokesman said.
Investigation so far indicates that someone in Haryana (Gurugram) procured or got the paper from Maharashtra and circulated it further. An MBBS student from Keralam has reportedly shared the paper with Sikar.
Two brothers from Jamwaramgarh Dinesh and Mangilal (Bimwal) have allegedly bought the “paper” from Haryana (Gurugram) for Rs 30 lakh. A student from their family was preparing for the NEET in Sikar, they had procured the paper for him.
Dinesh is said to be an active BJP leader in Jamwaramgarh. The revelation about his affiliation with the ruling BJP is made by former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
The spokesman said the first tip off to the police, in form of a complaint from a coaching teacher, is the first case in recorded in the country by the police
Infact, Rakesh Mandawaria, who runs career consultancy service in Sikar allegedly provided “guess paper” to aspirants and later used to claim that 120 questions figured in NEET exam came from his guess paper. The complainant coaching teacher found it unusual and fishy, hence, he approached the police to lodge a report, the police in turn taken Mandawaria under custody after preliminary interrogation, the spokesman added.
Meanwhile, the Congress organised statewide demonstrations and marches to protest the NEET paper leak and the cancellation of the 2026 examination, which has “shattered the dreams of lakhs of medical career-seeking aspirants”.
Demonstrations were held in all districts, including Jaipur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Sikar, Bikaner, Bhilwara, Karauli, and Jaisalmer, by the Congress State Committee (PCC) to express solidarity with the students affected by the exam cancellation decision.
The protesters raised anti-government slogans, demanding the disbanding of the National Testing Agency (NTA). They also burnt effigy of HRD Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
In a brief chat with the media, former Chief Minister Gehlot and the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Rajasthan, Tikaram Jully alleged that the SOG avoided timely and quick action in this vital case to save the ruling BJP functionaries and defame the rival Congress.
They said, “Dinesh Binwal is a BJP leader and for this very reason the BJP-led government in the state concealed this paper leak for nine days and refrained from filing an FIR.”
“I have been questioning since Monday, the SOG’s failure to file an FIR in the case,” said Gehlot.
“I have information that five family members of this BJP leader have already got employed in the government service”, he added.
Advertisement
