The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested another key accused in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case, identifying her as the source of the leaked physics questions.
The accused, Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, is currently working at Seth Hiralal Saraf Prashala in Pune, Maharashtra. According to the CBI, she participated in the NEET-UG 2026 examination process and was appointed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) as an expert, which gave her full access to the physics question papers.
Investigators claimed that Havaldar played a crucial role in leaking the physics section exam paper. She is the eleventh person arrested by the CBI in connection with the case.
Read also | NTA to CBI: Check possible physics questions leak as well
What is happening?
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate whether physics questions from the NEET-UG 2026 exam were also leaked.
This came amid suspicions that the circulating guess sheets may have been sourced from the agency’s secret pool of reserve question papers – in addition to chemistry and biology questions already confirmed to have been sold to students for up to $30,000 at least a week before the May 3 exam, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Investigators suspect that the leaked PDF files may have included material from multiple groups due to the sheer volume of questions.
The chemistry document alone contained 104 solved questions – nearly double the 45 that appeared in the actual exam – raising concerns that some may have come from alternative sets or contingency sets prepared in case the main paper was compromised.
So far, the CBI has arrested 10 people in connection with the case, including Shivraj Raghunath Motigaonkar, founder of a coaching center in Latur; PV Kulkarni, retired chemistry lecturer from Pune; and Manisha Gurunath Mandhari, a botany teacher based in Pune. Both Kulkarni and Mandhare were part of NTA’s NEET-UG 2026 expert panel.
NTA conducted the NEET-UG exam on May 3, in which over 2.27 million candidates appeared for the pen-and-paper exam comprising 180 questions – 45 each in physics and chemistry, and 90 in biology.
