Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar, founder of one of the most prominent medical and engineering entrance exam coaching chains in Maharashtra, has been arrested by the CBI in connection with NEET-UG 2026 papers leak.
For two decades, students across Maharashtra have known the name Renukai Career Centre, more commonly known as RCC, or simply Motigaonkar Sir Classes, as their ticket to a career in medicine. Online reviews called it “Indian Brand and NEET Category No. 1 in Maharashtra” and “Doctor Factory”.
On Monday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it had arrested SR Motegaonkar, director of RCC, from his residence at Omkar Residency in Latur’s Shivnagar area, making him the 10th person to be arrested in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (undergraduate) paper leak case or NEET-UG 2026, India’s largest entrance exam.
The arrests are spread across five states.
What Central Bank of Iraq officials said
CBI officials told HT that Motigaonkar was a “member of an organized syndicate involved in the paper leak”.
Investigators claim they found NEET question paper on his phone.
He allegedly received it on April 23, a full 10 days before he took the exam on May 3. It has since been canceled and is scheduled to be performed again on June 21.
According to the officials, who did not want to reveal their names because the investigation was still ongoing, Motigaonkar distributed questions and answers to several individuals. His phone has been sent for forensic examination, and his relationships with previously arrested people are being actively investigated.
The man behind the brand
Born on February 2, 1980, Motigaonkar is a gold medalist in MSc (Chemistry) and founded RCC in Latur in 2003, his websites say.
What started as a single training center has grown into a multi-city operation covering eight locations across Maharashtra, with three branches in Pune, apart from those in Nashik, Aurangabad, Nanded, Solapur, Kolhapur and Akola, in addition to the main Latur campus. The institute offers NEET, JEE and MHT-CET coaching for classes 11, 12 and repeat batches and a foundation program from class 6 onwards.
RCC claims to have produced more than 15,000 doctors in 19 years, with an app-based platform trusted by 80,000 students and a library of 3,500 practice tests. Charges at branches like Pune range from $1.2 lakh for $2.4 lakhs per annum, with scholarships available through RCC entrance examination.
Beyond coaching, Motigaonkar was simultaneously building a wider educational empire, running two schools and planning to set up a third CBSE institution under his name, with his websites describing him as a “visionary teacher” committed to imparting education to “the last child in the village”.
From the “doctor factory” to controversy
In Google Reviews, where RCC Latur has a 4.1-star rating from more than 1,600 reviews accumulated over several years, there was a sign of a shift in public sentiment. One review, written before the allegations came to light, described the school as “Brand India… Maharashtra’s No. 1 NEET class – Doctors’ Factory”, praising Motigaonkar’s teaching, faculty, study environment and personal instruction.
Another, posted after the news broke, simply reads, “NEET chemistry paper leaked word for word and they call themselves the best coaching. Shame on owner and teachers. Ruining the future.”
How the scandal was revealed
The leak did not first appear in Latur, but 800 km away at the Rajasthan training center in Sikar. On the evening of May 3, hours after the exam ended, a student showed his teacher two PDF files of a “guess sheet” sent by the homeowner, police have since said.
After three hours of questioning, the teacher and a colleague found that 45 chemistry questions and 90 biology questions in the documents matched the actual NEET paper – with the files reportedly being received the night before the exam.
After an initial attempt to alert local police, the teacher chose to email the National Testing Agency (NTA) on May 7, triggering a formal investigation.
Then the path led to Latour.
A separate complaint by city parents noted that 42 questions from the mock RCC exam were identical to the actual exam paper, pointing investigators squarely at the training ecosystem that partly defines the city’s student-centered identity. Local police in Rajasthan have already launched an investigation, and the CBI took over the entire matter on May 12 after the Union Education Ministry filed a complaint. The government canceled the NEET-UG 2026 exam on the same day.
Cross-state network
According to investigators, two members of the NTA’s paper preparation committee allegedly leaked separate sections of the exam. These are Manisha Gurunath Mandhari, a senior botany teacher from Pune who had access to the biology paper, and PV Kulkarni, a retired chemistry teacher from Latur whom investigators described as the “leader”, who allegedly set up and then leaked. Paper through secretly organized training sessions.
Motigaonkar is the second person to be arrested from Latur.
The nine accused previously arrested are from five states and include, besides Mandir and Kulkarni, Manisha Waghmar, a Pune-based beauty salon owner who has been identified as a key link in the distribution network. The others are Dhananjay Lokhanda and Shubham Khairnar. Mangilal Piwal also known as Mangilal Khatik, Vikas Piwal, Dinesh Piwal and Yash Yadav.
More than 22 lakh students appeared for NEET-UG 2026 exam. Admit cards for June 21 re-examination will now be released by June 14.
