NEW DELHI: With its probe into the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak “more or less complete”, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will soon prepare and send a detailed assessment report to the government and the National Testing Agency (NTA), listing flaws in the testing process and recommending systemic changes so that such incidents do not recur, people familiar with the development said on Monday.
The federal agency may recommend a complete revamp of existing screening processes, similar to the transparency and security protocols followed by the union Public Service Commission, and improved oversight of testing conducted by the NTA, these people said.
“Our investigation into NEET-UG is fairly complete. We have identified the key conspirators and beneficiaries including subject matter experts engaged by NTA, who played a role in the violation. Based on interrogation of the accused and witnesses and analysis of thousands of documents, we will share with the government and NTA a detailed assessment report recommending systemic reforms and corrective actions,” an officer said.
To be sure, the CBI, based on its investigations, is mandated to recommend policy or procedural changes to the government to close loopholes that enable fraud, corruption, or other criminal activity.
It had submitted similar assessment reports to the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after discovering major bank scams in 2018-19, including those involving fugitives Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya, the 2016 Bank of Baroda forex scam, several defense scandals, railway recruitment corruption cases and multiple Ponzi schemes.
A second official said: “Our recommendations are not binding on government departments, but in the past they have led to changes in regulatory practices, internal controls and better monitoring mechanisms.”
The CBI assessment report on the NEET-UG papers leak will go beyond the conspiracy details in the chargesheet, which is expected soon, officials said. “It will highlight the extent of vulnerabilities in such large-scale competitive tests,” the first officer mentioned above said.
The Anti-Corruption Commission has so far arrested 13 people in the case. Three of them — retired chemistry professor P V Kulkarni, botany teacher Manisha Mandhari, and physics teacher Manisha Havaldar — are allegedly behind the leak of chemistry, biology and physics questions for the May 3 exam.
Kulkarni, according to the CBI, was one of the authors of the chemistry papers appointed by the NTA. He organized private coaching classes at his Pune residence in April 2026 with the help of beauty salon owner Manisha Waghmar (who was also arrested), where the leaked chemistry questions, answer options and correct answers were dictated to selected students. The handwritten notes prepared by the students matched the actual NEET paper.
Mandhare had access to the Botany and Zoology questions as early as April 27 as he was in the NTA panel for the Botany questions. She also mobilized prospective students through Waghmare and held classes at her residence in Pune where she explained and disclosed the questions and made the students write down the same in their notebooks. Havaldar, an NTA-appointed physics expert, had “full access” to the physics questions, which she shared with Mandhare and the students.
The agency has not yet identified any NTA official behind the leak but has not ruled out anyone’s role.
