The Special Operations Group (SOG) of the state police has launched a probe into allegations of leaked questions in the National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET) 2026, days after receiving intelligence about a question bank circulating online containing at least 120 questions that also appeared in the exam, officers said on Monday.
However, a senior official of the National Testing Agency (NTA) said that they were yet to receive confirmation that any questions were common in the guess paper and the main paper, and added that they had received a separate communication about the matter, which had been sent to the central agencies.
The exam was conducted on May 3.
“DGP Rajeev Sharma received an internal report on May 7 about a guess sheet being circulated via WhatsApp and other public among aspirants before the exam. This question bank has 410 questions in total, of which 120 questions are in chemistry and biology in the main paper, which has 200 questions,” Additional Director General (SOG) Vishal Bansal said.
The standard NEET question paper consists of 200 questions, of which 150 are related to the disciplines of Botany and Zoology. A guess sheet is a document that lists possible questions for upcoming tests. They are generally created by experts or teachers, based on patterns of question trends and frequencies.
“It is yet to be confirmed whether the paper was leaked,” Bansal said, adding that an FIR has not been registered yet. The SOG questioned 12 people from Sikar, Jaipur, Kota and Jhunjhunu districts and also from Dehradun in Uttarakhand, officers said.
“Prima facie, it is likely that the guess sheet was distributed by a Sikar-based coaching center or consultant. We have also received unconfirmed reports that a similar question bank was distributed in other states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala,” the ADGP said.
Officers said the question bank was entirely handwritten.
“The aspirants who cleared this guess paper would have secured 600 marks out of 720 marks. We are collecting data on how many students received the paper and are trying to trace those who prepared and distributed it,” Bansal added.
Investigators said they are also trying to find out if any money changed hands while the note was in circulation.
“We are not sure yet whether this is a coincidence or an actual paper leak,” Bansal said. “It is a very unusual case.”
“The paper leak mafia generally does not go to the public domain to distribute papers. They take payments from the aspirants, make personal appointments, and then help the aspirants memorize the answers from their own devices,” he added.
“We need to understand how someone will benefit if the paper is leaked,” the ADGP said.
Another senior SOG officer, who declined to be named, claimed that the agency had already tracked down the people who were allegedly paid to distribute the newspaper. “We found a local career counselor who allegedly received the question bank on April 29 and purchased it for more than that $5 lakh. This is yet to be confirmed and we have brought him to Jaipur for interrogation to trace the larger distribution network. His bank accounts will also be checked to confirm the transaction, the officer said.
Bansal said the SOG was investigating whether known major paper leaking gangs in the state were involved in the case. “Several coaching centers in Sikar were earlier found to be involved in major leaks of recruitment exams. Necessary action will be taken if any of them are found to be involved,” he said.
Meanwhile, the NTA, in a statement on Sunday, acknowledged the investigation conducted by the SOG while maintaining that the test was conducted “under full security protocol.”
“The question papers were transported in GPS tracking vehicles carrying unique traceable watermark identifiers. The examination halls were operated under AI-assisted CCTV surveillance from the central control room, with biometric verification of every candidate and 5G jammers in operation,” the statement said.
A senior NTA official, who also declined to be named, said the agency was coordinating with central agencies as well as the SOG. “On the evening of May 7, we received an email from a whistleblower claiming that they had received a PDF copy of the ‘guess paper’ in advance, which reportedly contained questions identical to those on the actual question paper. We immediately informed the central agencies and requested their assistance to investigate the veracity of these allegations and understand why the information was not shared with us immediately after the exam,” he said.
He refused to identify the central agencies involved in the investigation and asserted that no FIR has been registered.
“We are still checking whether the allegations made by the whistleblower are genuine, especially since the email was received almost 96 hours after the screening and not immediately. We also need to examine whether any coaching institute had prepared such a ‘guess paper’ to present itself as accurately predicting the NTA questions. So far, neither the SOG nor the central agencies have clarified to us that the questions in the alleged guess paper match the actual NEET-UG 2026 paper,” he said.
When asked if the test would be conducted again in the event of a leak, he added: “We will not speculate, as this test relates to the careers of thousands of students. We will issue regular press releases on any developments.”
Narsi Ram, NTA city coordinator in Sikar, said no complaints of malpractice were lodged while conducting the inspection. “Around 30,000 students appeared for the exam in Sikar,” he said.
Sikar is the second largest center for JEE and NEET coaching centers in Rajasthan, after Kota.
In 2024, after the NTA published center-level performance data as directed by the Supreme Court, Sikar was found to have the largest chunk of students from a single city scoring the highest percentile scores overall.
The data also revealed that 37 out of the 50 centers that produce the most top hats every year are located in Sikar district.
